


I Will, I Swear

by mikonopico



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Romance, Drama & Romance, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Explicit Language, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Not Suitable/Safe For Work, Other, Psychological Drama, Psychological Trauma, Rape/Non-con Elements, Romance, Sexual Content, Slow Burn, Violence, chara is violent as hell lmao, chara x reader, rip reader, teen!chara
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-11
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-06-01 15:22:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6525640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikonopico/pseuds/mikonopico
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“A flower a day, keeps the sadness away.” You said, smiling as you tucked the golden flower right behind their ear.<br/>Chara narrowed their eyes at you.<br/>“That’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard, (Y/N).”<br/>Working as a caretaker in an orphanage can sometimes be a little challenging. Especially if you had to take care of a frighteningly violent and sadistic red eyed brat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Day

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve had this story idea in my head for such a long time since like last November and I couldn’t help but write it out now.
> 
> This isn’t your typical happy romance, Chara is violent as hell lmao. It’ll get worse, trust me. I hope you heed my warnings and enjoy. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
> 
> [Please listen here for dramatic effect while reading :)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md47-QsNmBo)

You walked up the steps, gripping your luggage as you walked up the cracked steps of a small brick walled building. You had finally settled in front of the entrance of ‘PRIMROSE ORPHANAGE’. Revisiting the place you grew up in when you were a young child.

You looked around your surroundings for a moment, unsure if arriving to your old home during this time of day was appropriate or not. You were always an early bird, but you occasionally had your limits upon waking up early. Arriving here at the crack of dawn, however, seemed a bit much. But it wasn’t like you had purposely intended on arriving this early… No, you loved to sleep in! But only if your busy schedule allowed for it.

Your name was (Y/N), and you were a student currently in your last year of community college. You wanted to be a social worker, particularly one that worked for orphan children.

The reasons for this was because you used to be an orphan yourself. You felt that working here would be like giving back to the community in which you were brought up from. Without it, who knows what could have happened to you.

From what you remembered from the earliest bits of your childhood memories, and what your now parents have told you from before, you were raised here until the age of four. Where after seeing your bright (eye colored) eyes, your parents couldn’t help but adopt you.

After being welcomed into a new and loving family, life was like a blur. Having grown up in a middle class neighborhood in your hometown, you admittedly did not have much hardships in your life. Both your parents were extremely loving and made sure to have enough money to help provide everything for you.

Even though you excelled in your grades, and could pretty much choose any career you wanted, you always had a soft spot for children and wanted to help them, especially those who did not have a home or family like you did when you were an orphan.

You continued to look around the neighborhood. This place really had changed an awful lot over the years.

Your eyes flicked over to the numerous run down buildings surrounding you. From poorly bricked apartments with missing glass windows, to dimly lit liquor shops and bars with employees that were barely awake; their eyes continuing to make a constant pattern of closing and opening their half-lidded eyes. The neighborhood didn’t look like the safest or cleanest place for children to run around in or live in.

‘Did I really use to live in a place like this?’ You wondered.

You grimaced in distaste as you saw a man who appeared to be around in his late 40’s walk out with a scantily clad woman in one of the bars your eyes had set on.

As if noticing your disapproving gaze on him, the man turned towards your direction and winked at you. He then gripped the makeup ridden woman’s waist, both of them smug as they both walked into a dark alleyway.

You shivered in disgust. “Okay, gross. I don’t even want to know what they’re going to be doing there. Ew.” You thought as your face scrunched up into a pale light shade of green. And the nerve of them to do such inappropriate acts near a children’s orphanage, nonetheless! Disgusting!

You shook your head in anger. It was no matter. Your sole purpose here was to take care of the children residing in this orphanage. It was more important to care for their well-being rather than concerning about the frivolous (and disgusting) matter outside near the orphanage.

You let your short temper melt as you took a deep breath. “Focus on the real matter.” You thought calmly, before softly knocking on the door before you.

You sure were glad you were wearing appropriate winter wear because it sure was chilly in this area.

You rubbed both of your gloved hands together and cupped them as you let out a warm breath on them. Even if you were too early on your arrival, it didn’t matter to you anymore. You were determined to help those children. The person answering on the door would just have to deal with it.

…

Slightly frowning at the lack of response, you knocked again after a few minutes of silence.

…

There was still no response, but you thought you had heard some screams and groans of pleasure coming from the dark alleyway you last saw the disgusting couple head to.

You rapidly knocked on the door, desperate to escape those horrendous sounds.

KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK-

Behind the door, footsteps were heard begrudgingly marching towards you.

You heard a hoarse and groggy voice mumble bitterly. “Alright, alright, I’m coming for god’s sake.”

You halted your knocks and the door swung open.

You were met with an old lady who looked to be around her late 70’s wearing round spectacle glasses on her small squinted eyes. She wore a black veil head dress along with a matching long conservative dress. A brass name tag pinned against the left breast of her chest labeled: “Sister Ann”.

You could tell the old woman wanted to yell at you for disturbing her sleep but instead chose to say “Yes?” in a calm and collected voice.

You immediately straightened, clutching both your hands behind your back nervously.

“U-Uh yes! My name is (Y/N), and I’m here for the job opening as a staff member.” you replied, eager to start your job.

Sister Ann’s eyebrows rose in recognition and she smiled at you. “Oh yes! I’ve heard of a new recruit wanting a new job here! Please, come inside,” She said warmly, gesturing you towards the inside of the house.

You nodded and stepped inside the house. “Thank you.” 

“Now, let’s start the interview in my office, shall we?”

You nodded in agreement. “Yes, ma’am!” You said excitedly as you followed the nun to her office.

You followed Sister Ann, trailing a few feet behind her. Even though you were inside, the house still felt a bit cold. You frowned slightly, children shouldn’t sleep in this condition. Perhaps the heater didn’t work?

You mentally noted that in your head, maybe you could try to fix it or ask your colleague, Joe if he could fix the heater. He was pretty good with all of this mechanical and technical stuff more than you anyway.

You smiled to yourself at your colleague’s memory. Joe was such an awkward dork that was a bit of a clutz, but he always did a great job at fixing things.

You shivered again, man this house was chilly.

Speaking of chills, you had a feeling someone was watching you.

You gulped and quickly turned around only to see no presence behind you. You looked around the living room, squinting your eyes towards the staircase a few feet away from you.

You sighed in relief as you realized that there was nobody in the room except yourself.

You continued to walk towards the next room but almost stopped when you could’ve sworn you heard a faint giggle as you left the room.

After passing by the kitchen, (which was in terrible need of repairs like most of the rooms you saw in the house) you were hurriedly rushed into Sister Ann’s office.

The old woman sat down on the main chair of the desk and motioned you to sit on the chair opposite to her.

The woman cleared her throat and looked you in the eye.

“Now, you’re here for a job position in Primrose Orphanage, is that correct?” She said, eyeing you closely. 

You nodded and handed her your resume.

“Oh, yes that’s right. I’d like to apply as caretaker. I’m currently finishing my last year of college and would like to continue the job after graduation.”

Sister Ann nodded in approval as she looked at your resume.

After a few certain incidents that had recently occurred, Primrose Orphanage had been running extremely low on employees and Sister Ann greatly appreciated your dedication even though you weren’t assigned the job yet.

You took her nod as a good sign and continued, “By the way, I’m sorry to have woken you up - I didn’t mean to arrive so early and bother your sleep.” You apologized, bowing your head in respect.

The old woman gave you a warm smile. “Nonsense, my dear. I am used to walking up this early - Well, actually not this early, but early enough to prepare breakfast for the children. It’s not as if I have much time to sleep anyways.The young ones always bother me when I finally have the free time to myself.”

She sighed before smiling. “Not that I mind of course.”

You smiled back, what a kind woman!

“Well, (Y/N)”, Sister Ann got up from her chair and stuck her hand out in front of you. “You got the job. Not after a week of training of course. But nevertheless, welcome to the Primrose family,” She said smiling at you with joy.

You stuck your hand out and shook her hand, smiling as you did so.

You followed Sister Ann to the kitchen and assisted her with the preparation of the children's’ breakfast.

You chopped fruits as she stirred oatmeal in a large worn out brass pot. The two of you conversed about little things in life when suddenly the grandfather clock of the house chimed, the time reading as 7:00 AM. Have you guys really been talking for that long?

“Oh dear,” Sister Ann said as she wiped her hands with her apron.

“It’s time to wake the children up for breakfast, (Y/N) dear, can you please finish up the oatmeal while I go upstairs? There’s this troubling child I have to tend to first. Otherwise, they’ll most likely find a way to run off if I come no later than now.”

You nodded your head as you dropped some chopped fruits into the oatmeal, stirring as each one disappeared into the mass of hot oatmeal. You then began to ladle and pour the oatmeal into several mismatched bowls for the children. You put your hands on your hips and nodded in approval at your finished work.

As you began to place the bowls on the table, you heard what sounded like a stampede of little feet running towards you. Before you could look up, you were tackled by a mass of children, each one nuzzling your face when they had the chance to.

Your cheeks flushed and you began to laugh, sitting up as you ruffled each kid’s hair.

They were absolutely adorable! All the kids around you looked to be around the ages of eight or below. They were too cute for their own good.

One kid grinned at you, revealing an adorable little tooth gap in the middle of the front row of their teeth.

“Hello pwetty lady!”

“Is pwetty lady going to work here now?” Another child asked.

A little girl with the biggest doe eyes you have ever seen looked at you in adoration.

“New mommy?”

A boy with a baseball cap lightly hit her on the head. “No, you big dummy! She’s just going to be working here!”

The little girl pouted at the boy but jumped into your arms anyway.

You couldn’t help but smile and return the hug, laughing along with the little kids around you.

The laughter soon stopped however, when you were met with a chilling voice.

“Greetings.”

You noticed the children around you visibly stiffen at the sound of the voice.

You looked up and your eyes were met with a tall child with short brunette hair cut into a shoulder length bob cut. They were wearing a long sleeved green shirt with a single yellow stripe, as well as dark cargo pants that matched their hair.

You gasped, startled by the child’s red eyes. They kept looking at you with a chilling grin that matched the creepiness of their voice.

You nodded your head to them and cleared your throat. You gave them a small smile in an attempt to ease the eerie atmosphere.

“Why hello there, I’m-”

Suddenly, Sister Ann's voice boomed out from the hallway. “CHARA!” 

Although you were slightly shaken from her loud voice, you couldn't help but admire the name she spoke of. 

'Chara? What a unique name.' 

'Chara' tsked, their grin quickly falling into a look of great annoyance.

Sister Ann speedily ran into the kitchen and was met face to face with the culprit she was looking for.

“I told you, to stay in your room before I got your breakfast!” She cried, looking at Chara with exasperation.

Chara clicked their tongue. “Yeah, yeah, whatever Granny Ann - I just wanted to meet our new little guest here.” They finished, looking at you with the same chilling smile, although this time it felt a bit more menacing than before.

“I told you, you need stay in bed! You’re still too weak-”

Chara turned around and looked at Sister Ann.

“I’m fine, Ann. See?” They said, spreading their arms out.

You looked at Sister Ann to look at her reaction and saw her look at Chara with a look of… Was that… Fear..?

You felt some of the shivers of the children trying to hide behind you.

“Now, let’s all just sit down and enjoy breakfast now, shall we?” Chara smiled widely, sitting down.

All of the frightened kids stood up, silently taking their spots on the table.

You rose an eyebrow as Sister Ann remained silent, passing the remaining bowls to the children that did not have any.

You were about to help her, when suddenly Chara’s voice interrupted.

“(Y/N), come sit next to me,” Chara said, patting an empty seat next to them.

You looked at the children’s face and saw them not looking at you in the eye. They stared directly at their own bowls, not saying or even eating anything.

You thought that was extremely bizarre and looked at Ann and saw her eye you nervously before calmly nodding. As if to say, “Don’t worry, I’m here.”

But you weren’t entirely weren’t sure if you could completely trust the woman, remembering that you noticed a faint fear of her eyes that were still present on her face.

Chara turned to the old nun. “Ann, can you go get me my medicine please?”

Ann fumbled a bit, about to make her way to a kitchen compartment, but Chara stopped her.

“They’re upstairs. I took them last night. I guess I forgot to return them to the kitchen, whoops!” Chara exclaimed, giggling unapologetically.

They continued to grin the nun, as if taunting her. “You can do that for me, right?”

Ann’s brows furrowed in conflict as she stared at you. She couldn’t just leave you there alone with that… That thing.

“Oh, don’t worry~” Chara said in a sing along voice. “(Y/N)’s a big girl, she can take care of herself down here! No need to look so worried!”

You looked at Ann. “It’s fine Sister Ann, I can take care of it here.” You smiled encouragingly.

“...Okay…” The nun said reluctantly as she walked out of the kitchen.

You slowly sat down on the chair after a cheerful voice of “Don’t be so shy!”, from Chara.

You took a spoonful of oatmeal and began to eat, ignoring the burning gaze of the scary kid sitting next to you.

“So, (Y/N)... I’ve heard a bit of you from Sister Ann. You’re a college student, huh?” Chara said, mixing their oatmeal around in an awfully cheery voice.

You nodded your head. “Yep. Just finishing my last year and applying for a job here,” you absentmindedly said as you poked a blueberry.

Chara hummed, continuing to mix their oatmeal. “Tell me about your family, (Y/N). Are they nice people? Are they rich?” They asked with a certain edge to their voice, ignoring the nervous glances of the other children seated.

You bit your lip, even if they weren’t your real biological parents, you still felt like it was incredibly inappropriate to mention your adopted parents in the presence of children that didn’t have any.

Chara noticed your uneasiness and leaned both of their arms on the table in a relaxed manner. “Aw c’mon (Y/N), it’s okay to talk about your parents here!”

You were still incredibly hesitant. “Err…”

“The kids don’t mind at all. Right?” They asked with a hint of warning as they looked at the children who immediately started nodding their heads in approval.

“Well, if that’s alright..” You said, as you fondly remembered the old couple who had raised and taken care of you.

“Well, I used to be an orphan too. Just like you guys.” 

Chara clasped their hands together. “Oh really?” They said looking at you with interest.

You nodded, softening a bit. “Yes, they people who adopted me were incredibly kind. They supported my decision to have this job even though a lot of my high school teachers expected me to take different career paths. My parents aren’t super rich, but they both made enough money to help me get the things I needed and go to the college I wanted to.”

You then stopped, not wanting to go into any more detail of your parents.

“Go on,” Chara said cheerfully, before gritting their teeth into a tight smile.

“Um… Well…My parents are pretty old actually.” You softly smiled.

“Like Sister Ann?” The doe eyed girl asked, being the first among the orphan kids to actually speak.

Chara gave the girl a murderous glare, and the girl immediately silenced, shivering with fear.

The boy wearing the baseball cap, gripped her hand below the table in means of comforting her.

You laughed, still not noticing the danger in the air. “They actually adopted me when they were in their late 40’s when I was about four years old. They never had a child before, and well... Here I am now.” You smiled.

You didn’t notice Chara’s eyes full of hatred, however.

They hated seeing others happy. Especially you. Just hearing you talk about your adopted parents with so much joy, made their blood boil - even if they originally did ask for you to talk about them. Why did someone like you easily get adopted while they had to stay here almost their whole life?

Gripping their spoon with their hand, they began adding pressure to the end of the utensil on the table, bending it in an alarming rate.

“In a way...” You lightly chuckled, lost in the fond memories of your parents. They were so happy to have you since they couldn’t have any children of their own.

“I’m actually sort of like a miracle child-”

Suddenly, you were forcefully slapped- the impact instantly made you fall onto the floor.

“Ow..” You mumbled in pain, putting a hand to your left cheek. 

Before you could get up however, Chara had already pinned you to the ground, their red eyes flashing with murderous intent.

The children moved out of their chairs and stood nearby. The doe eyed girl screamed in horror and began to cry uncontrollably as the baseball capped kid covered her eyes.

Having gone through similar experiences with Chara, none of them stepped in to stop the scary event occurring in front of them.

You tried to get up but you couldn’t with Chara’s weight on top of your body.

You were stunned. “Chara, wha-”

“YOU’RE NOTHING!” They roared.

Chara then began gripping your neck, adding pressure to it.

“You’re no miracle child!" They spat.

"You’re pathetic! Disgusting! How dare you speak of your family in the presence of fucking orphans-”

Your eyes widened, you knew it was an incredibly stupid thing you should have never done, but they told you you could-!

Suddenly, Chara grabbed their bowl of piping hot oatmeal from the table.

You thrashed violently, desperate to escape their grasp.

“You don’t deserve parents, you don’t deserve anything, you stupid - WHORE!”

Chara gripped the edge of your shirt and was about to slam the bowl of oatmeal right directly onto your face until you managed to get one of your hands to slap it away.

You screamed as the remains of the hot contents spilled onto your other hand that was pinned down by Chara’s thigh.

Large splashes of the oatmeal landed on Chara’s leg and they screamed out in pain.

Tears began to spill from Chara’s eyes and they glared at you madly. “WHAT KIND OF CARETAKER ARE YOU?!”

You cradled your burned hand to yourself, hissing in pain. You looked at the child in front of you, wavering as they began to spit out curses and insults at you.

“YOU DID THIS TO ME! YOU HURT ME!” They cried out.

You immediately abandoned trying to comfort your own hand and quickly grabbed a towel from the kitchen sinking it into cold water from the faucet.

You then rushed to Chara, applying the cold towel onto their leg.

“I’m sorry,” you said quietly.

Although you already knew it wasn’t entirely fault, they were still technically a child.

They sniffled and stopped ceased their cries.

Their eyes narrowed at you.

“No you’re not. Nobody’s ever sorry to me.” They whispered.

You wanted to ask what they meant but chose not to - continuing to apply gentle pressure onto their burned leg.

They were quiet as they watched you look at their leg with a concerned expression. They quickly looked away afterwards.

Sister Ann immediately ran into the kitchen. Her eyes wide in horror as she saw the whole mess.

You expected Sister Ann to yell at you and fire you on the spot for injuring one of the orphan children. But instead, you were surprised when she chose to yell at Chara instead.

“Chara, go to your room right this instant! You’re grounded”

Chara stood up quietly and immediately left the kitchen, but before they left they gave you one last look emotionlessly.

You didn’t know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing since Chara’s smiles and glares made you feel uneasy.

Sister Ann motioned you to the kitchen sink where she rinsed the same towel you had tried to soothe Chara with. She used the towel to try to comfort your burned hand.

“I’m so sorry this had to happen on your first arrival and day too, (Y/N),” Ann said apologetically.

“Chara is…”

You looked at Sister Ann questioningly, you could tell she was having a hard time trying to describe the violent child. After that incident, who wouldn’t?

She sighed. “Chara is… A troubled child. They are terribly ill and they must remain in their room at all times. Not just for their health, but for the safety of others as well.”

“This isn’t the first incident where something like this has happened, and I’m sorry for not telling you any sooner. If you want to leave the facility, I completely understand.”

Your thoughts drifted back to Chara. Although you were partly to blame for their outburst, you knew there was a reasoning behind it. Kids weren’t all just born evil and violent.

“It’s fine Sister Ann,” You said, ”But, I’m still going to continue my job.”

Sister Ann looked at you incredulously. “What? (Y/N), are you sure? I’m just concerned for your safety. That’s what’s most important.”

You shook your head and gave her an encouraging smile. “I came here solely for the reason to take care of these children-” You said, motioning towards the nervous faces that were standing from the table.

You closed your eyes. “Chara was right, I shouldn’t have spoke so openly about my personal life in front of them. I’ve had everything in my life given and provided for me, that I didn’t stop to think about how different everyone else’s circumstances might be.”

You cleared your throat. “It doesn’t matter what happened to me in the past or what happened to me now, because it’s not about me of course. It’s you guys." You continued, as you glanced at the small faces. 

You turned back to Sister Ann. "...And I’ll be there for them. No matter what happens.”

You then grinned at Sister Ann and the rest of the children, giving them a thumbs up from your towel covered hand.

The doe eyed girl ran into your arms crying. You chuckled rubbing her back but began to sweat nervously as soon as the rest of the children began to follow suit, running towards you in full speed before tackling you into the ground like they had earlier.

Each child was touched by what you had just said and bawled their eyes out.

You couldn’t help but smile as a few of your own tears also fell.

Despite the warmth of the room, you couldn’t help but wonder if Chara would have also been touched by your little speech if they were present in the room.

Little did you know, there was the same red eyed figure behind the kitchen wall who had stayed behind and listened to everything you had just said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Squints at the clock that says 1:44 AM*
> 
> Welp, this took forever.
> 
> Comment below and tell me what you think! :)


	2. Challenge Accepted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When everyone thinks your typing something for school, when you're really just typing up fanfiction trash. I'll re-edit this later. I'm pretty effin' tired man.
> 
> Also, guess who found out how to link lol. [Please listen here for dramatic effect while reading :)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22ijq63tnE0&feature=youtu.be)

“Are you still sure you want to keep this job, (Y/N)?” Sister Ann asked as she led you down the doorsteps of the orphanage. It was late in the afternoon and you had just said goodnight to the children in the orphanage since their bedtime was around seven o’clock.

You wanted to bid Chara “goodnight”, but Ann was completely against it.

“Just let them be as their temper cools (Y/N).” You remember Sister Ann reassuring you as she reminded you that it was the best to let Chara be for the moment.

You playfully rolled your eyes as you remembered Sister Ann asking you for the fifth time if you were sure that you wanted to stay working here in the orphanage.

You knew the older woman’s intentions were just to keep you safe but you really wanted to take care of children that you were once in the same boat as. To show them the love and care that you had growing up that they didn’t.

“Sister Ann, I told you, I’m absolutely one hundred percent sure I want this job. Seriously.” You said as you took the final step off the doorway.

Sister Ann nodded her head, still hesitant. She finally sighed in defeat.

“Well, if that’s fine with you (Y/N)... Just make sure to be careful around Chara, alright?” Sister Ann, said looking at you with a stern expression.

You nodded. “Yes, Sister Ann. Goodnight, ma’am.”

Sister Ann waved goodbye before bidding you goodnight.

“Be safe (Y/N).”

Red eyes from the window of the building watched as you walked down the street. You stopped looking up at the window above you, only to be met by a closed curtain. Not noticing the slight movement behind it.

Despite the neighborhood’s dirty and unsafe appearance, the neighborhood was also quite strangely beautiful. Along with the dark bright orange color painted in the sky, with dark grey clouds rested near it, it was quite breathtaking really.

You took out your camera from your brown satchel and took a picture of the sky, as well as some of the areas around you.

Photography had always been a favorite hobby of yours, as well as painting and drawing.

You smiled, maybe someday you could bring some of your art supplies for the children. You would love to take a photo of them painting and drawing.

You continued to walk around to find the bus stop to get home.

You turned to your right, past cigarette shop. Maybe you went this way this morning…?

“Uhh…” You said aloud as you walked along, ignoring some unwanted glances of strangers as they lit their one hundredth cigarette.

Whistles and cat calls continued to grow as you continued to walk.

“Hey girlie, how about some fun with us. Yeah?”

“Oh, mama. I’d love to fuck that bitch.”

They laughed as you began to speed walk.

“Hey, hey, don’t run from us.” One of them said as they began to get up along with a few other people in their group.

You then began running as soon as you heard their footsteps follow you.

“Hey, wait for us baby!” One of them called as you ran to a corner.

You ran and ran, not even caring if the group of men stopped following you.

You stopped in a nearby park. Sitting down on a bench.

Your heart was still pounding after the scary encounter. Who knows what could have happened if you didn’t run?

You looked at your burned hand which was partially healed with the help of Sister Ann. Ever since the scary encounter with Chara, the experiences you had went through today really shook you. You didn’t expect any of this too happen. To being threatened and injured, to being possibly getting murdered and raped.

You almost wanted to cry. You couldn’t bear to imagine how your parents would feel if they found out you were missing from their lives.

Knowing your adopted parents, they loved you so dearly that they wouldn’t even care to stop and think before suing Sister Ann’s ass.

You sighed, maybe you should’ve really listened to Sister Ann’s repeated warnings.

You never were really known for having thick skin growing up. Growing up in a privileged family, your parents had always helped you out whenever you had problems. Your parents and most of your friends weren’t sure if you were cut out for your current job when you broke the news out to them that you wanted to be a caretaker.

“Don’t you want to be something else (Y/N)? Like a doctor? You can be a doctor for children y’know. If you want to take care of children so much.”

But you always refused, reassuring them that you could do it. Looking back now, maybe they were right... Maybe you weren’t cut out for this job…

Could you really go through this again?

Everyday?

You clenched your eyes shut, trying to prevent your tears from spilling. 

“Hey girlie, how about some fun with us. Yeah?”

“Oh mama, I’d love to fuck that b-”

“What’s wrong (Y/N)?” A familiar voice mocked.

You looked up to see Chara crouched down in front of you, both their hands placed on the sides of their chin. They stared at you with a mock-concern expression.

“Are you alright?” They taunted, their face devoid of any sympathy.

You still didn’t answer, unsure of how to act. Sister Ann reminded you to be careful around Chara.

“I-I’m fine.” You quickly muttered before getting up.

Chara grabbed your wrist before you could walk past them.

“Why are you here?” Chara demanded.

You swiftly removed your arm from their grasp.

“That’s what I should be asking you. Why are you here, Chara?” You said narrowing at them. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?”

Chara looked away, their rosy cheeks reddening slightly in annoyance. “I’m not a child.”

You almost laughed but seeing Chara’s glare made you shut up. You didn’t know what exactly their age was, but from the looks of it, they looked about fifteen.

You rolled your eyes. “You’re still growing, you need sleep.” You mused as you scratched your head, looking at the sky that slowly faded to the night sky. It was late, you really needed to walk Chara back to the orphanage.

Chara followed your gaze to the sky before shrugging. “I don’t sleep. Whenever I can’t sleep, I walk around at night.”

You gasped. “But it’s dangerous out here, especially night time. You can’t just leave the orphanage! I have got to get you back there.” You panicked, quickly ushering Chara to follow you.

“How did you even get out of there if you were grounded?” You questioned while looking at them.

Chara ignored your question and stared back at you, their red eyes lack of any emotion.

“You have no idea where you’re going, do you?”

‘Shit.’

You cleared your throat. “U-uh sure I do.” You internally winced as your voice cracked, giving away the fact that you sincerely did not know where the hell you were heading.

Chara looked at you in an uninterested expression and started to walk away on their own, leaving you behind with your own embarrassment.

“H-hey! Wait up, it’s dangerous out there!” You said, scrambling after Chara.

Chara rolled their eyes, continuing to walk as you finally made it to their side.

“The only one in danger is you, (Y/N).”

You furrowed your eyebrows.

“So are you.”

Chara giggled.

“Oh, trust me (Y/N). Everyone here knows not to mess with me. I’ve had a few encounters with some people who thought otherwise, and let’s just say… They know where their place is now.”

You shivered as you saw their stretched grin. Not wanting to ask how and why.

“But, I can handle this place.” You announced in false pride, ignoring your earlier encounter.

Chara laughed, looking at you in the eye. Their gaze slowly becoming the same threatening glare from this morning that you feared.

“You don’t belong here, (Y/N).”

They stepped in front of you.

“Go back to your parents.” They spat.

Your eyebrows scrunched up in irritation.

“Don’t involve my parents in this.” You immediately flinched remembering your encounter with Chara from earlier when you had mentioned your parents.

Chara’s eyes never left yours, smirking at your flinch.

“Ah, (Y/N)~” They sang.

“I forgive you if you’re still worried about what happened earlier. Just forget about it. It’s all in the past. Just think of this as a make up for what happened.” They laughed.

Your eyebrows knitted together in confusion. “Huh? What do you mean?”

You then looked around finally realizing that Chara had led you to the bus stop you had been desperately looking for.

Wait...How did they know where you wanted to go..?

Their false grin returned to their menacing gaze. Snapping you out of your thoughts.

“I hope you learned your lesson. Now, you better not return again tomorrow. Or there will be hell to pay.” They gave you one last look before leaving you alone.

Hundreds of your anxiety driven thoughts flooded within your head.

‘Maybe they’re right.’

‘Maybe I shouldn’t…’

‘Maybe I’m not fit for this…’

‘Maybe I…’

‘Maybe I should…’

‘Maybe I should quit…’

…..

…..

“No.” You said aloud. Surprising both Chara and yourself.

Chara turned around, their face with the same creepy expression. "What?" 

You gulped. 

“Are you sure about this, (Y/N)?”

The same question you were asked the sixth time today.

“Yes.” You stated, in a voice full of confidence that you didn’t know you had within you.

“I am.”

Chara was silent for a moment before turning around again.

“I wanted to give you a chance to fuck off, but I guess you’re too fucking stupid to listen, huh? Be prepared, (Y/N). Because I’ll make sure you regret it.”

You almost gulped, but you stood your ground. “Challenge accepted.”

Chara didn’t say anything and you were glad to only see the back of their head as they walked away. You feared the thought of what kind of facial expression they made as soon as you made that comment. Thank god they didn’t turn around to give you one last look.

You continued to watch the back of Chara’s head as they walked away, finally disappearing into the distance as a car suddenly past by in front of you.

The bus finally arrived and you hopped in, dropping a token as you walked inside.

You finally sat down, the seats in the bus were pretty much empty having been this late at night.

Your dorm mate would probably freak if they caught you sneaking in. Most likely assuming your lateness for a hook up with someone.

You rolled your eyes, oh Daisy.

But your thoughts drifted back to the creepy kid with the green shirt with a single yellow stripe. Their eyes dark and bright red. 

“Be prepared (Y/N). Because I’ll make sure you regret it.”

You rested your head against the bus window and closed your eyes.

‘Nothing could be as bad as today.’ You thought.

Little did you know, that this was only the beginning.


	3. Missing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! Thanks for all the kudos and comments so far! :)
> 
>  
> 
> [Please listen here for dramatic effect while reading :)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh0N-hlIJYU)

You came in the late afternoon around 4:00. Sister Ann told you that your shifts were to start at 4:30 PM since the last horrendous incident you had at breakfast.

You absentmindedly rubbed your hand which was the victim of the incident. Your hand no longer had any pain from the burns yesterday and the marks were also fading.

You wondered if Chara's burn marks faded too. You guessed that it probably did since their leg was actually covered by clothing, unlike your unfortunate hand.

You hummed to yourself as you walked up the steps to Primrose Orphanage. You smiled, content with your new job. You still couldn’t believe you got it. Suddenly, your chipper mood was short lived when you were reminded of the same haunting words from yesterday:

“Be prepared (Y/N), because I’ll make sure you regret it.”

You shook your head, shaking away your paranoia. Sister Ann would do something if Chara were to do something to you again.

..Right...?

You knocked on the door, adjusting the straps of your backpack as you hummed softly. Gently tapping your fingers against your hip.

A few minutes had passed and you were still there outside the door. You checked your watch, 4:05.

You were about to knock again when suddenly the door swung open. You were surprised to meet the face of a blonde woman with her hair tied into a long ponytail. She chewed gum in an obnoxiously loud manner, looking your figure up and down as she blew a bubble that popped right in front of your face.

"Erm, hello." You said, wincing as you wiped away a few specks of spit from your face. Gross.

The woman who had the name tag: 'Betty' pinned to her shirt, walked away - not even sparing you a sidelong glance.

You narrowed your eyes as you stepped inside the home. 'Hmph. Rude.'

As if hearing your thoughts, the woman named Betty turned around to face you before blowing another bubble and smacked her lips again. You grimaced from the noise.

"Sister Ann's out." She said bluntly before walking away to lay down at one of the couches.

You furrowed your eyebrows. "Huh? What do you mean?" You asked.

The woman rolled her eyes as if you just asked her the dumbest question on Earth.

"Meaning she's out- Duh. She probably left a note or something for you in the kitchen. Anyways, I'm going to nap. I can't believe I had to come here at the freaking crack of dawn..." Betty mumbled to herself as she then began texting people from her phone. Most likely complaining of her lack of beauty sleep to her friends.

You rose an eyebrow at her actions before walking away to the kitchen. You had a feeling that what Betty meant by "nap", she meant: “Fuck off and stop talking to me”.

As you stepped in the kitchen, you noticed numerous bowls, plates, cups, and kitchen utensils messily scattered on the table and floor. Boy, was that a mess.

You glanced at the fridge and saw a note that was hastily placed and written on in blue ink. You read the note:

"Dear (Y/N),

I currently have important errands to run, so I apologize for my sudden absence. You most likely have already met Betty who is another co-worker working here. If anything goes wrong, report it to her and I'll deal with it later. If there are any dishes or any other utensils left in the kitchen that Betty might have overlooked, please put them away. Thank you.

-Ann

You peaked your head out of the kitchen, seeing Betty still lazily lounging in the couch.

You shook your head. Didn't she come here before you? Isn’t she probably older than you as well? You thought as you narrowed your eyes at the thirty-something woman. Although she may be older than you, she reminded you of some of the girls in your old high school who always ditched class to either hang out with their boyfriends or go to the restrooms to reapply their makeup for the hundredth time.

You rolled you eyes. "Figures." You mumbled as you collected all the dishes and utensils, placing them all onto the kitchen sink.

You finished washing the dishes and dried them, putting them away into the proper cabinets and drawers which they belonged to.

The strange silence of the house suddenly made you remember something.

...Where were the children?

You walked to the couch and stood in front of Betty, who groaned as soon as she saw you.

She sighed. “Didn’t I tell you I was going to take a nap?”

“Betty, where are the children?” You asked, hands on your hips.

“Um, aren’t they upstairs sleeping?” She guessed.

“At 5 pm?”

“I don’t know! Maybe?! Whatever kids do nowadays.” She snapped.

“Did Sister Ann take them out with her too?”

Betty scratched her head and squinted. “Um... No I only saw her go out by herself.”

“Did any one of the children come downstairs?” You asked cautiously as you felt chills begin to go up your spine.

Betty’s eyes widened and so did yours as soon as she shook her head.

“No…”

The two of you immediately bolted upstairs huffing as you did so.

You two paused as soon as you reached the floor. The corridors of the hallway were pitch black.

“Fuck.” Betty cursed.

You turned to her. “What?”

“..I forgot to give the brat their medicine.” She muttered, gritting her teeth.

Your eyes widened. You knew who she was talking about. You remembered Sister Ann telling you the day before that Chara had to take special pills every morning and night that treated their ‘illness’. The pills were used to calm them down and was even strong enough to knock them out sometimes. Those pills were vital to calming Chara’s violent nature down as revealed by Sister Ann when she told you that Chara’s lash out against you was also due to them not taking any.

The sweat on Betty’s forehead was evident in her face as she hastily looked around the dark hallways.

You couldn’t blame her. The fact that upstairs was pitch black and how the children were also missing really set the mood into fear.

Creak. Creak.

The sounds of your both of your footsteps creaking against the wooden floorboards didn’t help kill the fear.

“Jesus, this place seems bigger in the dark.” Betty said in frustration.

“Is there any light switch on?” You asked squinting into the darkness to find some signs of a light switch.

“I’m trying to find it… Ah! There it is!” Betty yelled triumphantly as she slammed her hand against a floral painted light switch.

Still no light.

“Son of a-”

“Here, we can just use my phone.” You interrupted, pulling your phone’s flashlight on.

Betty also turned her phone’s light on, and the two of you continued to venture out in the dark.

‘Crap. I hope they’re just sleeping…’ You thought to yourself as you and Betty looked through the numerous doors in the hallway.

Every door which was presumed as the children's’ rooms judging by the numerous small bunk beds were empty. And soon, dread began to fill the pit of your stomach when you found out that each room was the same result as the first.

Soon, the two of you finally arrived in front of the last door of the hallway. You and Betty shone both of your phone’s light to the door in front of you two.

You gulped.

In front of you was a wooden door filled with marks, scratches, and beaten down marks which you assumed were made from the other side of the door. It was as if someone was desperately pounding from the inside to get out. The side of the beaten down door was full of a long ray of brass and steel locks on the side from top to bottom.

“Ho-ly. Shit.” You muttered aloud as you stared at the intimidating door before you. The door looked as if it had just came out a horror movie where they locked away possessed children and demons.

“Is this...Chara’s room?” You asked quietly, quite stricken with fear.

Betty answered you with silence, not looking you in the eye.

“How do you know?”

“I uh, met them yesterday.” You answered.

Betty’s eyes widened briefly in recognition. “You were the one that spilled oatmeal on them?”

“Erm, unfortunately yes.” You said, rubbing your hand with the faded burn marks.

She looked at your burned hand for a moment before meeting your eyes again. “I’d hate to be you right now.”

You glared at her, also remembering the threat Chara gave you yesterday. “Gee, thanks Betty.” You said sarcastically.

Betty shrugged. Suddenly you heard giggles coming from the door before you. Both of you realized that the door had been open the whole time you two were talking.

“Ah crap.” You and Betty both muttered simultaneously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, even I scared myself a little when writing this. (⌒_⌒;) Oh boy, I can't wait to write the next one.


	4. Still Missing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Please listen here for dramatic effect while reading :)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYp9zxKprRc&list=PLlAi5mnWozUtKIBC_zHQ8d6hhjFB0_d-7&index=41)

“(Y/N), you caused this shit. You go first.” Betty said as she frantically tried to push you in the ominous door in front of you both.

“Hey! You’re the one who was left you in charge!” You yelped, trying to pull Betty ahead of you.

“Oh no, I am not getting in there with that devil child- AHH!!” Betty yelped as you gave a final tug, pulling both of you through the doorway.

And like all cliche romance films, books, and even fanfictions, Betty fell on top of you. The impact causing both of your phones to drop onto the floor. 

If this was another place and time, you probably would have noticed how attractive Betty really looked. She didn’t have any eye bags either. Huh. Beauty sleep really does pay off, that is if you could actually call her version of “beauty sleep”, beauty sleep.

But yeah, this really wasn’t the place and time to be admiring how Betty looked because the same chilling laughter repeated itself in the pitch black room.

Both of you immediately sat up, scurrying onto your feet.

“Damnit…” Betty muttered. 

The tall blonde was clinging onto your arm, shaking as she squeezed it in an iron grip. You also noticed that she was no longer chewing her gum anymore, increasing the high level of unease in the silent atmosphere.

Despite Betty’s rudeness and irresponsibility that absolutely should not be tolerated in her profession, you couldn’t help but feel an urge of protectiveness towards her. This was a trait that you always had, feeling the need to help others regardless of how they had treated you.

You gulped before looking around the pitch black room in determination, the only things bright in the room being both of you and Betty’s phones. You gripped your phone tightly, shining the flashlight around the room in attempt to find the last child that wasn’t checked.

“Chara, where are you?” you asked bravely.

The giggling abruptly stopped.

After quickly surveying the room again with your phone’s flashlight, you pointed the device right in front of you. Your eyes narrowed, okay this creepy shit was getting out of hand.

“Chara, if you don’t show yourself right now, I’ll-”

“Or what, (Y/N)?” A creepy face grinned, as it immediately emerged towards your phone’s light.

You and Betty both screamed, your phone almost dropping in the process.

It was none other than Chara, the little terrifying, red eyed brat that giggled once more.

They had a flashlight with them, that they clasped under their chin, giving their face a more terrifying effect than usual.

“What are you going to do to me, (Y/N)?” they inquired as they pointed their flashlight towards your face when they said your name.

You winced from the bright impact, but immediately straightened yourself, half shielding your eyes with your left arm.

You glared at them. “Chara, do you know where the rest of the kids are?”

Chara’s smile dropped, their face now devoid of any expression. “You didn’t answer my question, (Y/N).”

“I don’t have time for this right now, Chara. Do you know where they are, or not?” You said, ignoring their response.

Chara made a feeble attempt at hiding their teeth gritting, as they tried to give a false smile. “What did you say, that you were going to be doing to me, (Y/N)?”

But you didn’t give in. “Where are they?”

Their false grin snapped once again. “Answer my question first, (Y/N). Then I might tell you.”

You were about to rebuttal again from your stubbornness to comply, but Betty was getting tired of this too.

“Hey, you’re not the adult here!” She yelled impatiently. “Now, answer us now or-”

Chara immediately threw their flashlight at Betty’s face.

Betty howled in pain from the harsh impact as she gripped the side of her bleeding face. “You fucking bastard- I’m going to lock you up again in the cellar, you-”

“RAUGHHHH!” Chara screamed, as they flung themselves in Betty’s direction, pinning her onto the floor.

“You think I give a damn if both of you are adults?!” Chara screamed as they began to squeeze Betty’s air supply.

“What are you going to do, huh?! Lock me up again down there-” They spat madly.

Betty was about to strike Chara in the face with their unheld free arm, but Chara immediately slammed their foot upon it.

Betty screamed before being silenced by Chara’s tightened grip on her neck.

Your eyes widened, and you were just too horrified to do anything. Before you was an all too familiar event that happened yesterday. You were completely frozen in the same fear and your body began to shake.

Chara continued to apply pressure onto their foot, slowly grinding it side to side. They grinned crazily as they stared back at Betty’s horrified and pained face.

“It’s your fault I’m locked up here - Every. Single. Day. And. Night.”

“What?” You muttered out loud in horror. You knew that they locked Chara up for their “health reasons”. But you didn’t know it was throughout the whole day. Children shouldn’t be locked up in isolation.

Their grip loosened a bit, but not so much as to giving her enough room to escape.

“I’m sick of you adults - Thinking you can make me do whatever you want! I’M SO SICK OF ALL OF YOU TRYING TO CONTOL ME-”

Betty’s choked screams were enough to snap you out of your frozen state and you dropped your phone, immediately lunging towards Chara, and pulled them away from Betty.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING (Y/N)-”

You pulled their arms away desperately as they tried to hit you with their elbows.

“YOU’RE ALWAYS GETTING IN MY WAY - YOU BITCH!!!”

You winced as one of their elbows managed to gut you in the stomach, but your desperate strength helped you manage to hold them away from Betty, who was now unconscious on the dirty wooden floor.

“Stop it.” You said sternly, but they didn’t listen.

“I said stop,” You repeated. “I’m not going to hurt you!”

They suddenly began to struggle in a more desperate and violent manner.

Your patience finally snapped.

“I said stop it, NOW!” You yelled, turning them around so that they’d be facing you.

They quickly looked to the floor, their light brown hair covering their red eyes.

Their eyes narrowed at you.

“Liar.” They spat before you could say anything.

They looked at you the same way as they did on the first day, when you applied the cold towel on their leg from the spilled burning oatmeal. Their eyes were full of silent hatred, distrust, and… Fear.

Fear?

Of course everybody has their own fears, but it was surprising that such a violent person who was so keen on hurting others, would have fear lurked beneath them. There really must be a reason why they’re like that…

“I’m not lying. “ You said in a stern voice. 

“Calm down.”

Tears dripped from their eyes as they stared at the floor.

A bit of sympathy twinged in your heart.

“Chara,” You said softly. “Please tell me where they are.”

They said nothing.

You squeezed their shoulders gently. “Please.” You repeated.

“Please tell me.”

They then looked at you straight in the eye, eyes full of hatred. “I’m not telling you anything. You’ll never find them.”

You unconsciously gripped their shoulders tightly in frustration, and Chara eye's briefly widened, as if your actions pulsed as a threat.

They lifted their left arm up in the air, ready to strike you. “I told you you’re life’s going to be a living he-”

But you were quick in action, squeezing the back of their neck before they could get to you. Chara instantly lost consciousness.

You caught them before they could bang their head on their floor. You stumbled, but gently placed them down the wooden floorboards.

You gripped your head and closed your eyes, huffing exhaustively. Your head really hurt.

You then looked at the two fallen victims before you, you should really get them out of here. But only after finding the children. You bit your lip, you were afraid what Chara would do to Betty if they woke up first… Or vice versa if Betty was the one to wake up first. Who knows what she would do after what Chara had just revealed.

You decided to carry both of them on your shoulders. They were really were heavy. 

'Well, this isn’t so bad', you thought to yourself as you continued to stumble and carry them through the hallway.

...It was until you forgot that there were stairs and fell along with the people you were carrying.

You took Chara, who was nearest to you and shielded them in your arms tightly. Gripping onto them as you braced yourself from the impact of the stairs.

As you finally landed, you looked at their face that was buried in your chest. Thankfully, they were still unconscious.

Unfortunately for Betty, whom you forgot to also protect from falling -  she was not.

She gripped the back of her head. The poor woman was forming bruises everywhere. “Ow! What the-”

She then looked around in her surroundings in surprise and sighed in a huge wave of relief now that she was no longer upstairs with the possibility of almost getting killed.

“Thank god.” She breathed. She then looked at the brunette child in your arms and jolted away, remembering them violently gripped her throat and crushing her arms.

“Lock that asshole up.” She immediately said.

You groaned, still in slight pain from the fall, "What?" you asked.

“Lock them up so they’ll no longer see the light of fucking day-” Betty continued, raising her voice.

“Betty!” You quickly hushed and gripped the unconscious child in your arms protectively.

She eyes widened at your action. “(Y/N), they just-!”

“I know what they did.” You interrupted, staring at Betty's bruises.

“I know its absolutely horrific, I know it is.”

Betty glared, but shockingly did not say anything, letting you continue.

You then gently placed Chara on the couch Betty had lounged in earlier. You fluffed the pillow properly under their head, ignoring Betty’s mutterings of: “Great, now I can’t sit there anymore.”

You turned back to Betty who was now giving you the same look of annoyance she had given you when you had first met her.

“We have got to find the children first. We have no idea where they are, Betty. They’re not here, they’re not upstairs.. Betty, we’ve checked everywhere - We need to call the police and Sister Ann immediately!”

Betty looked away, and started to chew her thumb.

“...We… We actually haven’t checked everywhere."

....

You followed the blonde valley girl down the steps of a cellar she had opened from the inside of a small broom closet. 

Christ, you were glad your old house never had any basements or cellars, because they looked absolutely terrifying to be in.

 

...And here you were doing exactly that.

The dark cellar seemed even darker than the hallway upstairs if that was even remotely possible.

Sweat dripped down your face, similar to how Betty’s was when you were both upstairs searching blindly in the dark. Surprisingly though, Betty’s face wasn’t nearly as sweaty or full of fear as before. In fact, she looked completely unlike herself from your time having spent with her.

Her face was emotionless. Devoid of any sign of fear or annoyance, as if she had been down here more than too many times to count.

Your pondering was short lived however, as you heard faint cries from numerous children. Your eyes widened and you ran towards the direction of the sound. Running faster and faster as the noise increased. You didn’t notice Betty quietly following behind you.

You finally found the children before you, stopping in fatigue and relief. You didn’t realize how hard you had actually ran, but you were happy to see that the children were still safe. They didn’t seem to notice you a few feet away from them, as they were all huddled up, covering their faces with their knees, hugging themselves tightly.

“Kids!” You yelled.

“(Y/N)!” Some of them yelped, immediately running towards you.

You smiled as they all swarmed towards you, looking at each of them in relief and happiness that they were still here. But then you frowned, noticing that two people were missing.

You cautiously looked up from the sea of small heads in front of you looking ahead. You noticed the girl with the doe eyes, covering her eyes and sobbing tremendously.

Noticing the doe eyed girl, you realized that the kid with the baseball cap whom you had seen so often with the girl was nowhere to be found.

You walked towards her, bending down before her.

“Sweetie, what’s wrong?” You asked, full of concern.

She continued to sob and immediately latched herself into your arms. You soothed gentle circles on her back as you felt your shirt get wet.

“J-J-Jackie’s gone!”

“Jackie?” You asked gently.

“Jack!” She cried aloud.

Behind you, the kids looked away, their eyes filled with sadness.

You looked down, noticing her fingers clenching onto a torn baseball cap the boy missing had.

“What happened?” You asked urgently. You didn’t know what to do if Jack was the only child missing, or if Chara had actually done something to that boy.

“He...He.. He got adopted.” She then gripped onto you tighter, burying her face on your chest. She didn’t continue to say anything else, but you weren’t willing to coax her into answering anymore questions, seeming to understand the situation.

You stood up, hoisting the small girl into your arms. She snuggled onto you even further and you continued to smooth her back in comfort.

A girl gently tapped the side of your leg. You looked down at the little girl with dirty overalls and unkempt hair. Sort of looking like a tomboy your younger self had once dressed and treated her clothes.

The tomboy looked glared at the cement floor as if unsure as to whether or not she should talk to you.

You gave her a small smile in understanding. “It’s alright, you can tell me.” You said softly.

Her eyes immediately looked up at you, as small tears began to prick on the sides. “They locked us down here. They...They…” The tomboy girl began to sob, and you hugged the girl.

“It was...It was so terrible.” She sobbed.

Some kids began to cry, but a boy who seemed to be the oldest from the bunch looked up at you with eyes pink and puffy from already crying before. “It was because Jack was adopted. And whenever someone gets adopted here - They get really mad.”

“Chara.” You stated.

The boy nodded, continuing. “They usually just play cruel pranks or steal our stuff, but this time they forced us all in here.”

“They.. They tricked us into falling down here. Bu he really snapped when Lulu wouldn’t give him Jack’s hat-” The boy said, looking at the doe eyed girl in your arms.

“That’s right.” The tomboy said, shaking in anger as she looked up at your face.

“The stupid green sweater-god, I hate the color green- called him a ‘traitor’ since he got adopted. But Lulu wasn’t having none of that because she likes him! Right, Lulu?!” The tomboy said bluntly and proudly at the same time, looking at doe eyed girl in your arms with bright blue eyes.

“Y-yeah…” Little Lulu sniffled, whispering quietly as she looked away modestly.

You smiled at the two.

A boy with messy hair sighed, wiping away the last of his tears. “So then we were left here for hours. We didn’t even get to eat breakfast yet…” He said sadly as his stomach rumbled, as did many others in the room, including yours.

”..Yeah, I’m pretty hungry too.” You said in slight embarrassment, scratching the side of your cheek.

“Come on, let’s get out of here guys.” You declared, nodding your head to the direction of the stairs.

Your eyes met with Betty who was looking at the cement floor in deep concentration along with her arms crossed. You realized that she had been quiet the whole entire time here.

“Betty? You okay?” You asked.

She snapped out of whatever thought she was in.

“What?” She asked defensively.

You rose an eyebrow at this for a split second before saying, “Nothing, just wondering if you were okay.”

“I’m fine.” She snapped before turning around towards the direction of the staircase.

“Let’s just get out of this shit hole already.”

You were almost tempted to slap the blonde, seeing as there were young children around that were able to hear her vulgar language. But seeing the many marked bruises she sported all over her body, you decided to let it pass for now.

Before you could land a step on the stairway, you looked up and saw red eyes boring onto yours. It was none other than the child causing fear and havoc in this household.

“I told you I’d make your life a living hell.” They said monotonously.

Everyone in the room gasped, as you stood with your mouth gaped open.

You noticed their left arm holding onto the wooden door of the cellar raised above them.

“Chara-” You began, cautiously making your way upstairs.

‘Oh no.’

“Since you keep getting in the way of my plans, I guess this’ll be the only hell you’re ever going to get from me.”

You sped up the stairs madly.

‘No. No. No-’

You were mere inches away from finally reaching the door.

“No one will find you here." 

"Wait- Chara!"

For a split second, you saw the same fearful look in Chara's face as before, except this time it was no longer mixed with hate or distrust. Rather, an almost troubling expression mixed with confusion. 

"...I’ll see you in hell, (Y/N).” They said before finally shutting the cellar door in your face.

“NO!” You screamed slamming both of your fists on the door in front of you. You were so close! That crazy sadist. You didn’t do anything to them at all!

It was unbelievably hard not to hate that red eyed violent pain in the ass, brat, but you remembered how they had looked at you. Why did they always give you such a scared look?

You almost felt crazy for over analyzing everything, but Chara looked almost as if they were unsure of you.

Perhaps they were confused as to why you had just left them on the couch instead of letting them die by themselves upstairs.

Regardless of whatever theory of yours was true, you still felt annoyed by them and their actions.

“(Y/N), you idiot! You could have gotten us all out!” Betty shrieked.

You turned around to see Betty’s frustrated face shaking in anger.

She marched toward you. “You! You! You dumb-”

“Betty, for once can you just stop?!” You snapped, glaring at her.

The children were silent watching you as you spat in anger, this was the first time they had ever seen you so angry.

“We wouldn’t be in this mess if you had actually done your job and did what Sister Ann had told you!” Betty flinched.

But you were still angry. Your frustration and loss of patience from the whole day really shone through as you let your silver tongue do all the work.

“Maybe if you weren’t acting like a stereotypical, selfish, blonde, valley girl bimbo texting all your friends and looking up people on the magazine you will never, EVER snag because of your shit attitude, then maybe you wouldn’t have locked up Chara, endangering everyone’s lives -  Then this wouldn’t have happened!” You huffed in anger, you never realized that you could say all those things all at once. And boy, did it feel good.

Betty had flinched each time you had insulted her, looking at you with wide eyes. Her mouth was snapped open, not knowing how to respond.

Suddenly, tears began to swell into her eyes.

And because of your easily guilty conscious, you no longer felt good.

“Oh crap,” You began walking towards her down the steps.

“I’m s-”

“No.” She snapped.

“You’re right. You’re absolutely right.” She stated, gripping onto your shoulders as tears dripped down her makeup smeared face.

“I-I know-! I know-! I know I fucked up big time-!" Betty uncharacteristically sobbed, slowly falling onto one of the steps as she brought you down with her.

“I’m everything you described. I- I know I’m selfish most of the time and I seem like I don’t care- But- But I do! That’s why I took this job. I hated seeing orphans all alone on the street, trying to make ends meet.”

Your eyes widened slightly. “Betty…”

“Some of them were so desperate, that they even sold themselves.” Betty spat out in disgust.

“I couldn’t even save her.” Betty continued, sobbing.

Your eyebrows furrowed. ‘Her?’

She then began to grip the hair on her scalp, letting her streaming tears fall.

“No matter how much cash I gave her - I told her to runaway with me but- but she-...”

She gripped onto you tightly. “I hate it… I hate it so damn much. So, so, so, so much. I don’t ever want to see that happening with anyone or any child ever again.”

You squeezed Betty onto your arms. “I’m so sorry, Betty.” You said softly.

“Oh who am I kidding…” She sobbed. “I already fucked up by causing this shit. I shouldn't have locked them up down here."

"I’m worse than them...” She laughed humorlessly.

You placed both your hands on the sides of her arms, forcing her attention on you. “You are not worse than anybody. Nobody’s worse than anybody.” You said sternly.

“If anyone’s worse, it’s me for being such a judgmental prick towards you.” You smiled apologetically.

“But... Thanks for telling me the real you, Betty. You're not terrible on the inside, you know? You just... You just have to not be afraid to show it. And with what you told me, that takes guts.”

The blonde said nothing, but her teary eyed baby blue eyes widened at your words.

“Now,” you said standing up before gently patting Betty’s shoulder (you somehow knew that this was enough encouragement from Betty).

“It's time to show these kids how a caretaker like you really works. Besides, you’re not done with your shift yet. Are you?” You gave a small smile at Betty, raising one of your eyebrows in a teasing manner.

“What’ll happen if Sister Ann finds out you’ve been doing nothing from the start-”

Betty’s face flushed in embarrassment. “Of course I’m not done! Duh!” The blonde turned away, walking towards a cabinet near a dusty shelf. There, she took out a metal box.

Everyone watched in awe as Betty removed all the latches attached to the box, opening and revealing a first aid kit, a bunch of water bottles, canned food, flashlights, and even coloring books with crayons.

“Wow…” Some of the kids whispered in awe as they eyed the coloring books.

Some kids ran towards the coloring books, about to snatch them until Betty flicked their foreheads.

“Ah, ah, ah.” She said, shaking her head.

“Not until you eat and drink water.” She said sternly.

“Yes, ma’m.” The kids all muttered grudgingly.

Your eyes widened. Wow, they really listened to her. You smiled. Betty’s stern, no nonsense attitude as a caretaker was a breath of fresh air from the lazy and careless attitude from earlier.

“Also, line up if any of you guys have any wounds! We’re going to be here for a while!”

You helped Betty disinfect and apply bandages on some of the wounded children. All of them were happy having the dawned attention on them. Even if Betty meddled and lectured each and every one of them to be careful as she wrapped up their wounds. They nodded smiling as they listened to her, drinking the bottled water and eating the sweet baked beans from some of the cans. It actually didn’t taste that bad cold.

You could also tell that Betty quite enjoyed the attention from all the eyes of the children on her too, as her safety lecture somehow turned into some of her scandalous affairs (to which you stopped her and said no, much to her dismay), to how she got fired from her previous old jobs.

“...And I was so drunk that I-”

You then covered Betty’s mouth for the third time.

“Okay, Betty no. No alcohol mentioning towards minors.”

She pouted. “But-”

Suddenly the cellar door was flung open abruptly, causing everyone to look up.

It was Sister Ann.

"Children?! How in the world did everyone get locked up in here?! This place is strictly a storage unit for a reason!" The old woman cried out in exasperation.

“Sister Ann!” You cried, smiling in joy. Finally you guys were all free!

“Granny! Granny you’re here!” Betty cried out, small tears almost reforming in her eyes.

Your eyes widened. “Betty, that’s rude!” You muttered at Betty, also maintaining eye contact with the nun.

“My, my Betty. You haven’t called your old grandma, ‘Granny’, in such a long time.” Sister Ann smiled in amusement.

“What? Grandma? But aren’t nuns not supposed to have any children?” You question Sister Ann as you climbed out of the cellar along with the rest of the children.

Betty followed behind, being the last one to climb out. “She’s not my real grandma…” She muttered in embarrassment. “I just used to visit this place a lot and call her that when I was younger.”

“Yes, you were quite the little brat that was hard to get rid of in this household. Though not much has changed even now…” Sister Ann pondered innocently as she placed a finger on her chin in thought.

Betty whined. “Hey-”

You then remembered something important. “Wait, Sister Ann! Do you know where Chara is?”

Sister Ann frowned.

“I’m afraid I don’t, my dear. I couldn’t find them anywhere.”

The old woman clasped the cross of the rosary that was wrapped around her neck. 

"They're missing."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, took forever because my internet has a really awful habit of turning on and off. Verrrry annoying. Anyways, I know most of you don't like Betty because of the previous chapter, but how do you guys feel about her now? Not everyone is going to be how they seem in this story, so remember not to judge a book by its cover. We’re all human trying hard to get through life, sometimes acting a certain way to try and be perfect. 
> 
> But yeah, seriously. Tell me what you think about this chapter in the comments! How you feel with Chara and what you think might be the reason as to why they're acting so violently all the time? Any comment about this chapter would be awesome as long as its not the usual boring "Update pls" comment lol. I mean, these chapters aren't easy to write, and comments are literally my motivation to continue. Tell me what ya think! :)


	5. Some Qestions Answered, Yet Unanswered

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Usually I don't give a damn about updating at my own pace no matter how long it takes because I have a life and all, but I do feel bad this time for the late update to the lovely readers that were patient and kind. It was kinda hard writing this chapter. I had a writer's block and had to keep writing this over and over because some parts were just... No. Haha. So a lot of stuff was cut out, and my birthday was like a week ago lol and also I'm going to college pretty soon holy fuckkkk. Anyways, I loved all the great feedback and theories, thank you dudes! 
> 
> Oh yeah I also went to anime expo last month. Look at this lovely Chara cosplay <3 
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Again, forgive me for some errors in this chapter, I'll edit this chapter later. It's like freaking 3 in the morning right now, fml.
> 
> Anyways, enough of my ramblings. [Please listen here for dramatic effect while reading :)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw2sD6Pwnoo%22)

"They're missing."

Your eyes widened. "W-what? Seriously, Sister Ann?!"

Sister Ann nodded gravely. "Unfortunately, yes... I've... I've called the police and filed a missing report already, there isn't much we can do for now but to hope that they might return in the morning somehow."

Immediate flashbacks of Chara's confusing behavior with their breakdowns and the strange and confusing looks they gave you scattered all over your head. Where the hell could they have been? You were concerned about their well being whereabouts. The state of their mind didn't seem to be doing so well, especially after everything that's happened. You hoped that they were alright. It was also awfully late at night already too.

You furrowed your eyebrows. "Fuck."

Everyone in the room including the orphan kids in the room looked at you.

"S-sorry," you stuttered.

Regretting leaving Chara on their own, unattended, you looked down at the floor guiltily. You were part of the reason for their disappearance, you shouldn't have left them alone... 

"Its my fault this happened," you said in remorse.

"What?" Sister Ann asked, shocked.

She looked at the children gathered around behind her, realizing that they were in the room and didn't need to know anymore of the grim news.

"It's half past 8 already, you should all be in bed by now. Upstairs you lot go-"

Lulu looked up at Sister Ann, her doe eyes widened in alarm. "But Sister Ann-"

Sister Ann shocked you with the serious tone in her voice. "No butts, Lulu."

You looked down at the small girl who clutched Jack's baseball cap.

"I- I can't!" Lulu suddenly cried out.

Sister Ann sighed in understanding at the child's outburst. She calmly walked towards the girl, resting her pale wrinkled hand on top of Lulu's head in comfort. "Lulu, I know you're still sad that..." A flicker of conflicted emotions were shown on Ann's face for a moment. Perhaps she had given this talk to Lulu too many times to count already.

"Jack-"

Before she could continue, Lulu slapped the old woman's hands away and ran up the stairs sobbing.

Ann's eyes widened shocked at how the usual sweet and shy modest girl had suddenly shoved her. She sighed once more facing towards you and Betty. "Well I suppose I can't blame her..."

You frowned after having seen the scene. 

'Poor Lulu...' You thought.

Betty was glaring at the floor almost as if she could burn holes through them. "Yeah, especially after what everyone has been through already," she spat, gritting her teeth.

You agreed to Betty silently, but saw the way her body was tense. The same way as she was before down the cellar basement.

As the rest of the children quickly made their way up the stairs in search of comforting the young and despaired girl, Ann stared at both you and Betty, an anxious expression upon her worrying wrinkled face.

"(Y/N), Betty, what exactly happened while I was gone?" Ann inquired.

You looked up at her immediately. "Sister Ann, I'm sorry. It's all my fault I shouldn't have-"

Betty let out a frustrated sigh. "For god's sake (Y/N), it's my fault! We've been over this already-"

Ann gasped incredulously, "What? Betty?"

Betty still had her eyes on the floor, not meeting Ann's eyes. "Ann, this is all my fault-"

Well, that was pretty much true. But you couldn't help but blame yourself. It was an awful habit you had along with the large amount of guilt you bore within yourself. Plus, you already felt kind of bad about Betty's breakdown. You didn't want her to go through this alone.

You put a hand on Betty's shoulders. Startled, the pony-tailed blonde glared at you before her mouth hung in disbelief as she listened to the next set of words you were about to say.

"It's both of our faults," you firmly said to her.

Betty's expressions suddenly flashed into mild annoyance. "(Y/N), don't be a dumbass. It's my fault that we were trapped there in the first place. Don't you remember what you had said to me back there?! And don't you pity me now, you were absolutely right on what you had said it is my fault."

"I know, but we're both caretakers here, its BOTH of our responsibility!" You countered, putting a hand on your chest.

Betty cried out in indignation. "(Y/N)-"

"Enough," Ann said sternly. "Will both of you just tell me what exactly happened?" the old woman snapped. 

"Is there a reason why Chara went missing?" She looked at both of you expectantly, waiting for an answer.

The funny thing was, was that despite the voluminous little tug of war on who was the blame between you and Betty, none of you made any action to say anything. 

You were nervous. Really nervous. 

In a way, you instantly regretted spilling that you were to blame, you could really lose this job if you weren't careful with your words.

You shyly glanced at Betty, who was gripping both her hands in a tight fist, glaring at the checkered floor of the kitchen.

Betty suddenly grabbed your hand, walking away.

You looked at Betty like she was crazy. Did she want both of you guys to get fired? 

"Betty wh-" 

She continued to ignore you before stopping halfway near the kitchen's entrance way. "Granny, we'll tell you what happened some other time. Tomorrow or whatever-" 

You noticed her tone of voice was suddenly turning desperate. 

"-But its really late now, I'm going to walk (Y/N) home. Please take care of the children right now. They must be shaken by the stuff that just happened. See you later."

And just like that your arm was tugged as if it were a dog collar.

You looked back to Ann. "U-Uh right, sorry Sister Ann! Tomorrow! Goodnight!" You called as you stumbled from the rough pulling of your arm.

"You two have a lot of explaining to do tomorrow!" Sister Ann called back, hands on her hips as the two of you left the building.

"Ow! Ow! Betty stop pulling so hard!"

Betty immediately stopped as soon as the two of you were a few feet away from the building. 

Betty stern expression immediately fell as she sighed what could be called the biggest sigh of relief. "Oh man, I though Granny Ann would kill me back there."

Betty still gripped your hand pretty tightly and your fingers almost felt like they were pulsing through the invisible veins in your skin.

"Betty." You lifted both of your connected hands up, gesturing your to your almost red fingers.

"Oh right." Betty apologized, letting your hand go.

She scratched the back of her head. "Sorry, I have a habit of.. Holding hands if I'm really stressed. Let's go walk to your house. What direction is it at exactly?" The pony-tailed blonde asked, looking at you expectantly. 

"Oh um, this way." You pointed at the direction in front of you. "I take the bus stop." 

Betty nodded, silently walking with you.   
.....

After a few moments of silence and awkward walking, Betty turned to face you with the same bored and unimpressed expression Chara gave you yesterday.

"...You have no idea where the bus stop is, do you?"

Damn, even she could tell?

You followed Betty as she tried to guide you to where the bus stop was. You chose this quiet opportunity to ask Betty about the question that's been itching your brain since the incident in the cellar. 

"Betty," you began carefully. "Is it... Alright if I ask you about something?"

She stopped her tracks to look at you  "What is it?"

You felt a bit guilty treading on personal territory, especially with the way she reacted down the cellar, but your nosy self got the best of you. You wanted to know the person whom she was talking about no matter what little info you got. 

"Betty, who is... 'She', exactly?" You asked.

The blonde shifted her hands in her pockets.

"...I don't know who you're talking about. Be specific." She said coldly.

"The person you were talking about back there when we were in the cellar... You said how you gave money to her but..." You noticed Betty tense even more with each word you spoke.

You almost wanted to smack yourself. 'Okay, maybe this wasn't the best time to say this...'

"Sorry, forget I said anything. Let's just go to the bust stop-"

Betty turned around, facing you.

"No," she interrupted. "I- I know who you're talking about. I just.." She dug her pockets deeper, facing away from you.

She let out a big chunk of breathe she was holding in.

"She was... Someone I deeply cared about. Who used to live back there," she said, shrugging to the direction where the orphanage was. 

You quietly listened as she continued. "I met her when I was about 8, and if you think I'm terrible now, you should've seen me when I was a spoiled little brat back then," she chuckled to herself, shaking her head.

"She was... Mary was really the only person who tolerated my bullshit and actually told me when I did something really messed up."

"Unlike my stupid parents," she spat bitterly. 

Betty furrowed her eyebrows, as her eyes bore to the ground below her.

Images of a smiling raggedy clothed girl with dark brown hair holding her hand danced around in her head.  
Young Betty Wellsfigures was sobbing, sitting in a dried patch of grass. Her mother whom she had looked up to had scolded her. Little did her mother know that her cruel words had really struck Betty and hurt her.

Betty hurriedly wiped away her tears from her sleeves as she heard a small shuffling pair of feet crossing the grass behind her.

"What's wrong?" The voice asked.

Seeing the tall shadow that engulfed her own form before her, Betty knew exactly whom the voice belonged to and immediately cleared her throat. "N-nothing. Go away."

The dark haired girl behind Betty frowned, knowing that it was a lie. Suddenly the girl had an idea.

"Dance with me Betty, dance!" The tall girl giggled as she suddenly tugged the blonde's hand.

Betty blushed, looking away from her hand holding captor. "Mary, that's stupid and you know it- Ahh!!"

Suddenly the blonde was pulled into an embrace.

Although there wasn't any music, the two young girls ended up dancing in the moonlight in joy as fireflies surrounded them. 

Betty blinked, snapping out of her day dream like faze.

She gulped, smiling sadly. "She was the only one that really cared about what I thought and everything. She- I loved-" 

"..."

You were met with Betty's sudden silence and decided to take another risk like the billion ones you had already done today.

"What happened then?" You asked.

Betty's demeanor immediately changed, she began to shake. "Just... Some terrible shit happened. Tragic, messed up shit, some fuckers in this neighborhood did to her." She angrily spat.

Your eyes widened. "Wh-"

"They're gone now. Some of those cowards got away to live. ...But, she didn't."

You clamped a hand on her shoulder.

"Betty, how-"

The blonde shook her head furiously. "I'm sorry (Y/N), I don't want to talk about this anymore. Okay?"

You nodded in understanding even if she couldn't see it since her back was facing you.

"...Another time okay?" She pleaded quietly.

"Besides, we're already at your bus stop," she continued.

You agreed, nodding your head for the umpteenth time. "Of course. Whenever you want to. I- I understand."

You both quietly sat on the bench. From what you can tell from the sides of your peripheral vision, Betty's eyebrows were furrowed and she was blankly staring at the cement ground devoid of any expression.

You wanted to ask her if she was alright, but you weren't sure if it was the right thing to do. Regardless of your many risks today, the deep emotions Betty had expressed today must have been tiring for her and you didn't want to disturb her peace.

Thinking back to the small bits of her past she had shared with you, your mind wandered to the girl she mentioned. 

'A childhood friend she lost? That's terrible... I can't imagine going through whatever Betty had gone through during that time.' You thought of your friends and family, you couldn't bear the thought of losing any one of them.

Still, there was something inside that just didn't add up. Despite her tragic past, you wondered why Betty had decided to continually lock up Chara away in that horrible, dark cellar. Did they do something wrong? Well, that was a bit of an understatement, of course they did something wrong. Their moods and actions were unpredictable, that's why they had to take medicine and stay in their room.

'...But they were locked up in their rooms as well,' you suddenly thought as you remembered the numerous chains and locks on the beaten door that was the entrance to Chara's room.

God, you hated all this mystery with unanswered questions forming in your head that started as soon as you decided to stay put with your new job.

Was this all worth it?

You closed your eyes.

You were alone in a dark pitch black room. Suddenly you were engulfed in numerous warm hugs from tiny little arms and hands from the orphan children who were smiling at you brightly.

You grew a small little smile fondly remembering the sweet children at Primrose Orphanage.

'Of course this is worth it. All of their smiles. To make sure they were safe and happy,' you said in your head.

You suddenly frowned and the children disappeared.

...But why did you have to keep questioning yourself this?

Why did you keep doubting yourself?

Why?

You looked up in front of you in the dark pitch black room and saw Chara.

You almost held your breath, their presence was always terrifying despite this being a... dream that you were in?

The green and yellow striped child was knelt before you, their back facing you. Their small back was shaking, racked with sobs.

You held your arm out in front of you, trying to reach them but they were too far away.

You tried to call out, "Chara-"

In a blink of an eye, Chara's head immediately snapped in your direction. They ran towards you with immense speed and before you could do anything you were suddenly pinned to the ground, hands wrapped tight around your neck.

You remembered this position all too much as your windpipe began closing up.

"Ch-" You choked out.

You were silenced by the building pressure on your neck.

Your face was hit with small splashes of water, looking up you realized they were tears.

They leaned towards your ear, whispering. "It's because you don't care. You really don't care at all. That's why you keep doubting and questioning yourself."

You tried shaking your head and saying no but you just couldn't. You were frozen.

They laughed coldly and more tears sprinkled onto your face. "Isn't that right?"

"(Y/N)?!" They roared.

"I do care!" You suddenly blurted out as you opened your eyes, only to meet a blurry Betty.

"(Y/N), holy shit- Are you okay?!" Betty frantically asked as she shook both of your shoulders once more.

You breathed heavily. "It was.. a dream?" 

Betty sighed, exasperated. "Ugh, you little shit. You really scared me."

"Sorry." You apologized but never forgot the child that had just haunted your nightmare.

Betty looked away, seemingly pissed that you scared her but was overall glad that you were okay.

"Whatever..." She mumbled to herself.

More silence.

"How long does this damn bus of yours take to get her, christ. I swear like 20 minutes already passed!" Betty complained, looking at her cellphone.

You glanced a peak at her cellphone and noticed that she had just ignored numerous texts from her friends that she had the pleasure of absentmindedly texting earlier.

Betty was probably corrupted with her thoughts as just as you were. 

Your thoughts swarmed with the strange, violent, red eyed child that you just couldn't seem to figure out.

You wanted to ask Betty about them but silence and peace was the best thing on your mind right now. Maybe you could ask some other time.

Betty was the first to break the silence.

"I know you're probably wondering why I locked them down there," she began.

Never mind about the peace and quiet you were now all ears.

"I wasn't working yet at the orphanage when they first arrived but as soon as I began to working there, I just knew there was something wrong with that kid. I know it sounds kind of crazy but... I feel like there might be something evil going on in them."

Betty bit her lip as she began to continue. "The way they acted so violently towards others, their crazy strength doesn't fit a small kid like them in their age. I know it was terrible and unforgivable of me to lock them up down there but, they scare me (Y/N). They really do."

She suddenly looked up at the moon. "I remember the day when I snapped and first did it. They were taunting me like always and my quick temper couldn't take it but I managed to calm myself down."

"Suddenly they mentioned Mary's name. Spilling out all this shit about her, reminding me what had happened and how it was all my fault she was dead and I- I fucking snapped. How the hell that kid knew about her and what happened was beyond me. But I didn't give a damn."

"Later on, I got them out and they never mentioned her name again. It was like they were scared of me but it quickly vanished as they began to hate me even more so. They still caused all sorts of trouble and tried staring fights with others and well, that was the only way I knew how to get them to just stop. Well, at least temporarily. I couldn't bare to see their face everyday after learning what happened."

"What they did to the others?" You asked.

Betty shook her head. Her breath hitched. "What they did to my Mary."

Your mouth gaped open like an idiot taking in everything.

Now you had even more questions that swarmed in your head. 

"Holy fuck." You sputtered.

You looked to her, opening your mouth. "But Betty-"

Betty's eyes widened realizing now that she had accidentally revealed too much. She stood up from the bench.

"Forget it, (Y/N). Never mind, this doesn't concern you."

"But-"

"-Besides, your bus is already here anyway. See you," she quickly said, walking away.

You watched as she disappeared to the distance.

"...But we're caretakers..." Your voice faltered as your bus finally had arrived in front of you.

You inserted your bus token and decided to sit in the seat nearest to the door you had just entered from. You looked to your window, biting your lip as you gathered your thoughts from everything of today.

Needless to say, it was really a lot to take in. There were some questions that were answered a bit, like who the mystery girl Betty had talked about in the cellar who was revealed to be a childhood friend of hers named Mary. 

But wait, Betty had accidentally said "my Mary," which she slipped up, and the way she talked of Mary was as if they might have been more than friends...

But still you weren't sure, I mean you had just learned of this mystery girl from Betty today. Regardless of whatever relationship they might have had, it was someone terribly dear to Betty whom she had deeply cared about and tragically lost. Someone that dear to her that caused Betty to snap and lock Chara up. 

...Just what exactly had Chara had done? How were they involved in this? Might they have... Did they...  Did they kill her?

You shook your head in disbelief. 

No, they couldn't have! 

They were just a child, they couldn't have done something as terrible as that!

...Right?

But you knew exactly what they were capable of.

You gulped. Just the mere thought of that possibility gave you chills.

Where the hell were you going to get all these unanswered answers?!

"Approaching Mt. Ebott. Please stay seated." The voice over machine of the bus announced.

You couldn't think of the possible answers with the bus's monotone voice in the way.

"Ugh!" You screamed in frustration as you grabbed your hair.

You heard a rough cough and widened your eyes.

Oh crap. You forgot you were in a public place alone with the bus driver in the empty bus like always during this late time out.

"You alright, ma'am?" The raspy voice of the old bus driver asked in concern, eyeing you from one of the bus mirrors that were pointed directly at you.

You looked up, meeting face with your reflection. Sensing your messy appearance, you straightened yourself up.

"S-Sorry." You apologized to the elderly driver.

The bus driver waved off your apology. "Ah, it's alright kid. I'm guessing today was a rough day, huh?"

You sighed looking at the hundreds of rows of tall pine trees that past by you as the bus moved. 

"Oh, you don't even know the half of it."

The bus driver shook his head chuckling at your far away voice. "Trust me kid, I'm pretty old. I've already seen things you can't even imagine going on in my lifetime. Hit me with your best shot." The old man smirked, challenging you.

You smiled at his crinkled smile before looking back at your reflection from the window.

You but a hand on the side of your cheek, holding your head up. "Well, there were just some horrible things I learned in the place I work in," you began.

"Some tiny little questions that were answered- which wasn't really a lot, but yet I was only left with more unanswered questions-" You sighed, but suddenly your breath stopped.

Outside the window, was a small familiar figure that began walking down a path near the pine trees.

You gasped. ....It couldn't be? Could it?

As if sensing your eyes on them in what felt like the longest few seconds, the shadowed figure turned their head to face you. You were met with the same familiar red eyes in the dark.

"Chara!" You exclaimed out loud slamming your hand on the window as if they could hear you.

The red eyed figure quickly looked away and continued down the tree covered path, disappearing in them.

Mt. Ebott was a dangerous place. You've heard rumors that somewhere down there, there were monsters hidden beneath the surface. But monsters were just fairytales weren't they? Sometimes not even humans were sure whether or not they were real, since the supposed war between humans and monsters were printed in some history books. This caused many controversy and debates among all humans. Regardless of whether or not the rumors were true or if monsters were even real, Mt. Ebott was like a never ending forest where humans had wandered off to and were never seen again. Because of that, many hikers and vehicles ventured away from that place. 

And Chara had just decided to be in that exact place that no one was allowed to trespass. Just great.

"Son of a bitch..." You muttered under your breath.

"Um, sorry?" The bus driver asked confused.

"Stop the breaks now!" You yelled desperately standing up.

"Now wait there missy, you can't just stand up without holding anything, you're going to get hurt!"

"Please stop the bus right now! I'm begging you!" You yelled desperately.

"Are you crazy?!" The bus driver exclaimed. "It's Mt. Ebott out there, haven't you heard of the shit that goes on there?!"

You gripped the bus driver's arm, ignoring the 'Please do not distract the Driver' sign on the left side of the bus. Knowing that he would be uncomfortable.

"Of course I know! But please I have to go there right now!" You begged.

The man furrowed his eyebrows, "Why?"

"I found the source of my unanswered questions... Oh yeah, and they're also a missing child."

The old man sighed,"Kid..." 

Your wide eyes looked up at the bus driver, full of hope that he would agree. 

"Yeah?"

"Are you high?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Indiscreetly puts away weed*
> 
> Uh, N-no... Lmao jk. 
> 
> Yeah, I know this must be a lot to take in- but what do you guys think? What did you think of the bits of Betty's backstory? Did you expect that? Do you think this 'Mary', might have been more than just a dear friend to Betty? What could have possibly lead to her death? Oh crap, what do you think Chara did? Did they kill Mary or did they do something else involving her death? What the fuck is Chara doing in the middle of the night? What could they be doing? 
> 
> Also, what do you think of the story cover I drew for this story on quotev?
> 
> The coloring's not the best, but I'll redo it some other time. I just really wanted to finish this chapter. (If you wanna see more of my art, I recently made an art instagram, I haven't posted anything just yet but if you wanna follow me hmu coughcough) 
> 
> But yeah, tell me your thoughts so we can hurt our brains together. Anything but the horrid comments that just say "update", regardless of how many times I repeat myself. *Looks at quotev* Like holy crap, is that all anyone can just say after reading like 12.6 pages of a chapter?


	6. Finally Found But in the Most Tiring and Alarming Way Possible

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll edit the grammar errors on this chapter later, right now I am both tired and dead.
> 
> Anyways, enough of my ramblings. [Please listen here for dramatic effect while reading :)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGWtF1AttTw)

It took you awhile to convince the bus driver that no, you were indeed not high. Especially when the driver pointedly looked at a used cigarette that was rested near your feet.

“I swear that was there when I got here.”

The old man looked at you with an unimpressed stare.

Yup, not convinced at all. Well, no matter.

Guess you had to act crazy like most protagonists in fan written stories.

You rose up from your seat. “Sorry I have to do this sir, but-” You managed to quickly pull the door operating lever and busted out of the bus door.

“Hey you little-! Goddamnit, kid! Get back here, it’s too dangerous out there!” The bus driver yelled at you frantically as you ran out.

You winced at the driver’s concerned voice, feeling a bit guilty.

‘Sorry Mr. Bus Driver, but I gotta catch this kid.’

You ran past a dimly lit street lamp which was the only light source in that area.

You continued to run, following the path you saw Chara had walked to. Running as each step you took made the forest grow darker and darker.

Trees and more trees. Tall and small, all different shades of green in the dimly lit night. Finally you were captured in pure darkness.

Damn, where the hell had this kid ran off to? And why such as dangerous place like Mt. Ebott?

You continued to walk as you held your phone’s flashlight in front of you. It was almost like today was the day where you spent yourself in the darkness 80 percent of the time. Geesh.

Hopefully that would change as soon as you found Chara. The dark always made you feel uneasy, and being alone this time wasn’t helping with your small fear at all.

The only thing you heard in the dark forest were cricket chirps and owl hoots.

You then heard another owl hoot near your ear as the bird swooped past you.

You screeched and continued to run towards the path in front of you. Finally stopping and kneeling as soon as you caught your breath.

Fucking owls.

You got up and continued to walk, hoping to find a glimpse of a green sweater or the chilling red eyes.

“Chara?”

“Chara?”

You sighed. No responses in every direction you called out.

“God, where the hell- Oh, hell no.” You stopped abruptly as soon as you saw the next obstacle in front of you being a huge enormous mountain.

You looked around, having second thoughts. Was this really worth it? Maybe you should just go back and- you turned around and saw darkness. You were already pretty far from the place you had originally started from. There were no more dimly lit street lamps from the distance. Besides, Chara couldn’t have possibly-

You suddenly noticed what looked like a tear of familiar green fabric in one of the mountain’s branches.

“The things I do for this little brat…” You grumbled in annoyance and despair at all the troubles Chara had caused you today.

Welp, might as well seeing how far you already were.

You glared at the huge obstacle and sighed again, wincing as you held you held your phone and it’s bright light between your teeth as you regretfully tried to climb up the mountain. Yeah, you were really unprepared.

You inwardly cried and screamed at the same time as you saw a bug crawl down the mountain next to you.

‘Chara, you better come down this damn thing if I find you up there.’ You glared at your goal above you, the top of this damn mountain.

Somehow, you managed to climb halfway up the mountain from your sheer determination in finding Chara, and not wanting to encounter any more insects.

You almost fell off the mountain ledge as your hand accidentally brushed a centipeetle.

You yelped in alarm before finding your way back in place.

That thing was huge! But no way in hell were you going to fall off this mountain.

Familiar giggles.

Well, except that. Thank god you found your balance.

When you looked up, you saw a dark figure far above you immediately disappear from your sight, running away.

Chara.

Had they been watching your pathetic attempt at climbing this mountain the whole time you weren’t looking? Must’ve probably been it seeing as they wanted to see you suffer the whole time you were with them. But you had to get them back, right out of this dangerous place.

You finally climbed up, and quickly wiped your phone’s drooled on screen with your pants. You continued to huff and puff out of breath. Climbing a mountain was harder than it looked in movies.

Finally calming yourself, you looked at the dirt noticing a small trail of foot prints.

At least now it would be easier for you to find Chara, hopefully it would be easier for you to convince them to come back with you.

...Yeah, who were you kidding that’s probably going to be harder than climbing the mountain, much less going down the mountain.

You groaned again, you were really unprepared for this.

You then remembered their frightful and confused expression that had haunted your mind since the encounter in the cellar.

‘..I wonder if they’re scared right now…’ You thought, frowning in concern.

“Chara, where are you?” You asked out loud softly.

The atmosphere on top of the mountain was deadly quiet. Always this scary and uneasy atmosphere whenever you knew Chara was there. ‘Heck, now I’m getting scared…’ You shivered.

“Chara, come on. Let’s go home-”

You suddenly tripped on a rock falling between a pair of large bushes.

You screeched in alarm, “oh crap-”

You heard a tsk of annoyance. Looking up you saw Chara’s back a few feet in front of you. It seemed that they noticed your loud entrance.

You quickly got up and smiled in relief. Finally you found them!

“Chara!”

You continued to run but stopped halfway noticing that they were looking down. And the thing they were looking at was a huge hole.

“Oh my god, is everything here so damn big?” You thought out loud, laughing nervously.

No laugh or mocking response.

Yeah, now wasn’t the time.

You cleared your throat, “Uh, Chara? ...Why are you up here?”

Chara didn’t answer, and seemed to almost lean a bit forward, peering into the dark abyss.

Your eyes widened in alarm as your heart beat rapidly.

“Chara-” your eyes widened, “wait.”

No response. They seemed to edge forward, walking a few steps completely ignoring you. Their eyes still trained on the dark, eerie hole. It was almost like they were possessed. Like something was calling to them there.

You started to run towards them. “Don’t go there, you’ll get hurt-”

Step. Step.

Oh no, one more step and they’ll-!

They held their arms out, as if ready to fall into their demise.

Without thinking, you launched your arms around their waist, immediately pulling them backwards away from the deadly abyss.

Suddenly, they snapped out of their mind, noticing your rough actions.

“Let go off me!” They screeched.

You ignored their insulted panics.

“Stop! Stop!”

“Chara! Calm down-”

“No, you calm the fuck down- Let- LET GO OF ME!” They screamed.

They began to violently wrestle and try to tear away from your grip.

“Hey stop-” Suddenly, they harshly bit onto your arm. “Aw, fuck!” Your grip loosened a bit in pain and the child ran away trying to run back into the hole.

What the fuck?!

Thankfully, your legs were longer and you launched yourself on them again before they could reach the hole.

“Oh no you don’t!” You screamed.

Pulling them back you accidentally fell on your back from their suddenly heavy weight.

You winced in pain. “Ow-”

Realizing that Chara would most likely bite you again and brutally try to hurt you to get a way out of your arms, you smartly clamped one of your hands on their mouth.

You also tried to use one of your legs to try to pin both their legs from moving but they beat you to it, using their right foot to stomp on your knee.

Good thing the knee was one of the toughest parts of the human body. It didn’t hurt, well, as much.

Your patience was thinning again. “Ugh- Stop being so difficult!” You muttered out loud, struggling with the antsy child.

“Chara! You better stop right now!” You finally yelled out loud.

They flinched, stopping their actions.

You almost sighed, trying to relieve in this itty-bitty, short amount of peace.

..That is until they continued to struggle.

They screamed in panic, their breathing erratic as their raised their voice.

“YOU FILTHY BITCH- GET YOUR DIRTY HANDS OFF ME- YOU- YOU- DISGUSTING-!”

Their breathing was loud and uneven as they tried to hurl insults at you. They began to gasp for air as their eyes widened in panic and alarm. They desperately tried to get out of your grip in a violent matter, thrashing about.

‘Uh-oh.’ You realized that they were having a panic attack.

From personal experiences from yourself and from people you knew, you already knew how it felt how to go through that terrible, scary thing. It was like you couldn’t breathe and the whole world was closing in on you.

Your mouth deepened into a frown remembering those memories that you had help from your adopted parents who taught you how to calm down during that situation.

Having a tight grip on Chara wouldn’t help them at all.

You immediately loosened your grip on them and they off of you before stumbling and falling into the ground. Their eyes shut tight in pain as they continued to breathe erratically.

You felt a twinge of sympathy at the pitying sight. As well as the bothering thought that Chara must’ve endured this many times seeing as how they were trying to handle themselves now.

All your frustration and impatience vanished as you realized how many times they must’ve endured this by themselves in that… Dark room and… Cellar…

You walked cautiously towards them, careful not to scare them and have them panic again.

You sat down a few feet away from their lying figure, blocking the way towards the dark hole to make sure they wouldn’t go in that direction.

You quietly let their breathing calm down evenly. They needed to calm down, and you interfering with them certainly wouldn’t help that at all.

You softly rubbed your bitten arm, trying to ease the pain as you listened to their breathing.

It felt almost like 10 minutes had passed and you looked at Chara. You leaned a bit forward and looked at their face, their eyes were closed.

“Chara?” You asked quietly.

“Chara?” You repeated.

Wearily, you slowly put a hand on their shoulder, gently shaking them. They made no move or sudden backlash. They were sound asleep.

You sighed and almost smiled at their sleeping form. They looked completely innocent when they were asleep. They almost looked like a regular kid, dreaming of activities they would do for fun the next day.

Your small smile disappeared, sitting in a straight grim line. But they weren’t a regular kid, no.

You remembered their violent manners and hurled insults.

“DON'T TOUCH ME!”

You remembered the frightened and confused expression they gave you before locking you up.

You continued to stare at the sleeping child. No, they weren’t a regular kid.

You furrowed your eyebrows. "Chara, why did you go up here..?" You asked, even though they couldn't hear you.

You picked up their sleeping form, cradling their head on your neck as you brushed their hair in a motherly like way you remembered your mother doing to you as a young child.

You stumbled and winced as you got up, you felt your back ache in pain.

Augh, this wasn’t good at all. You wouldn’t have enough strength to climb down this thing. Ugh, this really was not your day.

You decided to walk a few feet away from the hole, seeing that it was best. Until it was deemed safe as it disappeared from the background.

Your eyes greedily caught the sight of a huge oak tree and you immediately fell in front of it, your back resting against it. You then placed Chara against the wide oak that had enough room to spare beside you.

Their sleeping form slowly moved to your side before having their head fall into your lap.

Instinctively, you would've moved Chara back in place against the tree, but you were too tired to move or care.

You closed your eyes, you just wanted to finally rest in this peace and quiet.

No hard time having to argue with a bus driver that you weren’t high, no hard time having to chase after Chara or having to wrestle them.

You looked up at the sky above you.

The stars were absolutely breathtaking. You never really had a chance to actually see the sky surrounded with so many stars like this. In the city, or crowded areas with light, it was almost hard to see how many stars were actually hiding up there. You had to admit, that despite being one of the most dangerous places on Earth, Mt. Ebott sure was beautiful.

You sighed in relief. Closing your eyes in content once more.

Peace and quiet.

And at this moment, everything was just fine. You would just worry about Chara later, you just needed to rest a little bit…

“Why is my head on your lap?”

Your pink, tired eyes opened as you looked down at the bright red eyes peering at you.

So much for the peace and quiet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yayyyy we finally have Chara back! They better not disappear again because this Author has had enough of that LOL. And would you look at the time, it’s one o’ fucking six AM. Will I ever finish writing a chapter that isn’t in the extremely early morning? I sure hope so because college is coming up next week. Hopefully I wake up early tomorrow because I have to get my student ID.
> 
> So what did you guys think of the chapter? What'll happen next? Will Chara react violently again (laughs at the obvious), or will they finally manage to calm the heck down? How will the reader do that? Do you think there's going to be a teeny bit of fluff next chapter? ;) Winkwink. And poor Chara (despite almost killing you readers) with their crazy panic attack... Speaking of panic attacks, I remember experiencing a panic attack for the first time this year, it was so scary. If you guys ever have had a panic attack, what were some things you did to calm yourself down? Or if you helped someone who was in that situation, what did you do to help them? I had a friend in high school who called me whenever I texted him that I was in those shitty situations. He insisted on calling, even though I was like what the hell I can’t talk right now- but it helped me. Usually he would tell me awkward personal experiences he had to cheer me up, and then I wouldn't feel so bad anymore lmao. Sighhhh. I miss him. 
> 
> Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Some itty-bitty fluff is slowly going to make its way up soon after all the angsty-ness so far. Stay tuned for the next ones coming up! Your patience is greatly appreciated! :)
> 
> ...I ...I just killed a fucking cricket right now, a large one too. Sometimes when I kill bugs, especially if its really late or early in the morning I feel like I killed an actual person. The feeling is horrible. Now I'm afraid that its family might eat my face when I sleep for revenge. Save me.


	7. Taking in a Stray Cat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll edit the grammar errors on this later, I just want to read some yandere fanfiction rn ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) while pretending my homework isn't due on Monday.
> 
>  
> 
> [Please listen here for dramatic effect while reading :)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwieXvxkbsM)

You jolted fully awake, realizing that it was Chara that interrupted your few seconds of peace.

“Oh crap-”

You cleared your throat. “I mean, oh good! You’re finally awake,” you said in relief.

Chara narrowed there eyes at you.

“Why is my head on your lap?” They asked again, except in a more demanding tone this time.

You briefly narrowed your eyes at them in annoyance before thinking: ‘Well, why don’t you just move then?’

You wanted to say that out loud, but you didn’t feel like arguing at the moment. You were still tired from walking to god knows where in Mt. Ebott, climbing the damn mountain, and then having to wrestle Chara out from jumping into a freaking hole.

Which got you wondering, why were they up here in the first place?

You were about to ask until you noticed that they remained looking at you questioningly.

“Oh. Right,” you nodded, remembering their earlier question/demand.

“I meant to place you beside me, but I guess you somehow made your way to my lap while you were asleep.”

You were met with silence and the same red eyes still peering at you with silent judgement. Afterwards they looked up at the night sky. Their eyes sparkled for a brief moment as they took in the sight of the beautiful stars.

More silence.

If Chara wasn’t so set out to lash out and almost kill you from time to time, you probably wouldn’t mind watching the stars silently with them. But of course they were, and you just really wanted to get the hell out of here at the moment. Besides, who knows what would happen to either one of you if you stayed in the mountain alone. You didn’t want you or Chara to be added in the list of missing people reports who were last seen on Mt. Ebott.

...You still wondered why they still made no move or action to try to remove themselves from your lap. I mean, it’s not like you were forcing them to lay there.

Well, as long as they didn’t try to wrestle with you again because you really weren’t up for any more of that. I guess you didn’t mind as much. But you really had to go back and return Chara. The two of you couldn’t just stay here forever.

You cleared your throat, “Well then, if you’ve already had your fill of star gazing, let’s go back home alright?”

Wind was picking up, it was really getting chilly up here...

At the mention of ‘going back’, Chara’s thoughtful gaze at the sky suddenly fell. They returned to the same distrustful and malicious stare you knew all too well.

They launched themselves off of you, slowly backing away from you. “So that’s why you really came to find me, right? You want to take me back to that horrible place and lock me up?!” They accused.

You stood up, blocking their direction from the abyss. You frowned. “What? I don’t want to lock you-”

“Liar!” They accused.

“Stop lying to me- that’s all everyone ever does to me-”

You took a few steps towards them, raising your hands in front of you in a calm manner. “Chara, I’m not lying-”

“Yes you are! You want to return me back to that fucking place-”

Their eyes widened in fear. “You want to see me suffer, don’t you? You want to get your revenge on me just because I locked you up, now you want to lock me down there forever! Isn’t that it, (Y/N)? ISN’T IT?!” They snarled harshly, as if they were a wolf ready to attack.

Your face twisted into shock at the accusations. I mean you were accused by them before with the many insults and fights you already shared, but lock them up? You would never do that to anyone.

But then you remembered that they were pretty much locked up down that cellar basement all their life in the orphanage. Though you partly knew Betty’s reasons for doing that, (besides the hate held towards them from a history you still didn’t know anything about) it was mainly out of fear.

Fear of Chara’s violent tendencies and what they could do to someone at any given moment.

Did Sister Ann know about them being locked up…? You guessed she wouldn’t have, but she did lock them in their room.

...

You looked at Sister Ann questioningly, you could tell she was having a hard time trying to describe the violent child. After that incident, who wouldn’t?

She sighed. “Chara is… A troubled child. They are terribly ill and they must remain in their room at all times. Not just for their health, but for the safety of others as well.”

...

...But, could she perhaps have locked them up somewhere else as well? Somewhere else just like… The cellar? Could that be part of the reason for Chara’s behavior-

No, no she couldn’t have-

She’s a good person, she’s a nun. She takes care of the orphans and protects them, doesn’t she?

She protects…

‘But you only met her a few days ago. How can you be so sure?’

“You don’t care! NOBODY CARES ABOUT ME!” Chara roared.

You snapped out of your thoughts, and saw Chara in front of you in a farther distance. You realized they were slowly backing away farther and farther into what was the cliff of the mountain. The same place where you climbed up the mountain.

And now they were going to jump off. Again.

They glared at you, breathing heavily. “If you won’t let me go jump up there, then I’ll just-”

Oh no.

Hell to the fucking no, not again.

“-jump off here.”

And just like before, they let themselves fall backwards, their arms spreading out to their sides. Their eyes were on you as they did so.

In those half seconds as you immediately ran towards them, your eyes never left their face, and their eyes never left yours.

You noticed in that moment, the mix of dreadful, dreadful fear in them. No, they didn’t want to really die. And you wouldn’t let them either, even if your life depended on it.

You didn’t know how you did it, or how it happened, but you launched yourself and wrapped your arms around them as they fell, taking you with them.

At that exact moment, you realized that this was one of the most reckless and stupidest decisions you’ve ever made: jumping off a goddamn cliff.

But you knew, that it was the right thing to save them, despite that.

You tightly clenched your eyes shut and you hugged them tighter as the two of you fell.

Maybe you were stupid.

You guys were probably going to die.

You won’t ever get to see your parents…

You won’t ever see your annoying roommate Daisy or the stern old bus driver who didn’t want you out here in the first place...

You won’t ever see the orphanage you were brought into… Where Sister Ann, Betty, and the orphan children resided at…

You were going to-

Live.

You harshly tumbled down the cliff and held Chara closer to you, shielding and protecting them.

Finally, you managed to land on something safely.

You lived. You were alive? How in the hell was that even possible?

You opened your eyes, realizing that a bunch of large bushes had saved your fall. For once, you were glad for some of the huge things in this place.

In a small moment of relief and partial madness, you began to laugh. You couldn’t believe it! You were alive!

As you laughed to yourself, you felt shaking that mimicked the way your chest rose as the way you laughed.

You looked down on your arms to see Chara shaking.

Your mouth grinned to the side as your eyebrows rose in amusement.

“You laughing too?” You asked cheekily.

Suddenly, you realized that that they actually were doing quite the opposite.

They were crying.

You rubbed their back gently. “Hey, hey, hey...” You soothed.

“It’s going to be okay, we survived-”

“I didn’t want to live,” they spat.

Your eyebrows shot up in alarm, but you then remembered the way they looked at you before jumping off the cliff.

Their eyes held fear, like always.

“No, you don’t.” You stated.

Their head snapped up, looking at you as if you had just slapped them.

“You don’t want to die.”

Their face first contorted into a mix of confusion, embarrassment and anger, but it slowly drifted into fear.

They grit their teeth at you, but the look look of fear didn’t fade away. “How in the hell do you even know? Huh?” They demanded, gripping the collar of your shirt towards them.

...

You looked up at the sky, trying to figure out how to put your words together.

“Because of the way you looked at me, I just… Knew that you didn’t really want to do it,” you explained.

And just like that their face fell, as if they were fully exposed.

And they didn't seem to like that one bit.

Their face returned to the look of confusion and they turned away from you, crawling as they pushed themselves off of you away from your grasp.

“...I,” they began, “I don’t…” Their bangs covered their face as their head tilted down. They clutched the sides of their shoulders. They were uncomfortable.

They then looked up at you, and you could see their red glowing eyes between the threads of their hair.

“JUST LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!” They yelled.

Chara stood up and was about to bolt away until a shot of pain sprang through their leg.

“Ah!” They screamed out, falling onto the ground.

“Chara!” You gasped, running after them.

You reached out your hand, “Are you oka-”

Chara slapped your hand away and looked at you in fear, distrust, and what almost looked like helplessness. Even though they desperately tried not to show it.

They were definitely scared now.

Their expression was all too familiar, it reminded you of an injured stray cat from your childhood. Scared, afraid, and helpless from being hurt by what was done to them in the past.

You didn’t have much friends when you were in elementary. Maybe it was because you were just too quiet. Some people didn’t even seem to notice you until you silently rose your hand during attendance or roll call.

You didn’t know how to respond whenever somebody your age talked to you, you were afraid of messing things up. So you either responded or replied with one-worded answers or you just silently nodded your head in agreement. All the other kids eventually got bored trying to talk to you and ended up forgetting about your existence since you were just too quiet.

Despite your unhappiness at having a lack of friends, you were always looking forward to coming home. Not only to see your loving parents, but you recently discovered a cat near the backgate of your backyard.

Although, whenever you tried going near the small cat, it always ran away before you had the chance to take a few more steps towards its direction.

But this time, you were definitely ready. You saved up some money to buy the cat a can of tuna, and not just any cheap tuna, it was the best brand at the store. Maybe the cat won’t be afraid of you this time with your bribery.

You bounced on your seat of the car, excited.

“Whoa slow down, kiddo. You might hit your head.” Your dad joked as he continued to drive towards the direction of your house.

“Okay dad,” you giggled, immediately ceasing your bouncing but you continued to grin widely, hardly containing your excitement.

Your dad rolled his eyes lovingly and pulled up onto the driveway. He unbuckled his seat belt and turned to face you as you repeated his actions.

“Want me to bring your bag inside while you feed Mr. Cat?” You dad asked, holding his hand out.

“Yes please! Thank you!” You gave your dad the handle of your pink princess backpack as you opened the car door, hurriedly running inside the house so you can grab the can of tuna.

Your dad closed the car door before locking it, chuckling as he followed along inside.

You opened the screen door to your backyard and cautiously walked towards the area of the back gate. It was like a mini alleyway.

You immediately spotted your eyes on the white cat who was lying against the gate.

Ha! You got it now!

In a fit of excitement you rushed towards the cat until it immediately snapped its head in your direction and hissed.

You immediately halted your actions at the sudden gesture and gasped.

You cautiously took a step up before you, just to take a chance. The cat immediately jolted up on its hind, hissing at you madly.

You didn’t understand, you had food. You didn’t do anything to it.

You tried to smile at the cat reassuringly. “Mr. Cat, I just want to-”

It then tried to claw you with its paw.

You immediately took a few steps back.

The cat continued to growl at you, and you looked at the cat’s face.

It was pretty angry but at the same time it looked scared and… Helpless.

You furrowed your eyebrows. “Huh?”

Your eyes followed from its face to the tail of the cat which was bleeding.

You gasped in horror. So much blood.

It was as if someone had cut it.

You called for your dad, frantically trying to explain the situation as you panicked, he immediately called the animal rescue team.

The cat was thankfully ushered into safety and was being taken care of.

You still didn’t get it.

Why did they try to hurt you? Why did it look at you that way? You didn’t do anything to it. You just wanted to give the cat some tuna and hopefully become friends with it.

You asked your dad why the cat was so angry at you despite you not doing anything wrong.

Your dad carefully explained to you that apparently the cat used to be previously owned by an abusive owner. As soon as it escaped and ran away, the cat tried to get people to take it in or feed it. But every person that the cat met was just like its old owner. They had violently hurt and harmed it. Since it got hurt so badly from others this time, it didn’t trust anyone in fear of it getting hurt again.

You remembered crying that day because you felt so bad for the stray cat.

You never forgot the cat’s face with the way it looked at you. It was so scared and helpless.

And here you were several years later meeting the same expression once again.

It all made sense now. The reason why Chara acted the way they did. The reason why they violently lashed out and hurt others. The lack of trust and hate towards anyone they interacted with.

They were hurt from the past and they must've been hurt pretty badly judging by the way they acted now. And it didn't help at all with the way the Orphanage was locking them up even if it were for the safety of others.

You crouched down in front them as they looked at you with their calculating and piercing eyes, carefully studying you to see what you would do next.

You looked at their leg which caused them such pain. Their pants showed a ripped hole from the kneecap area, you realized that their knee was bleeding.

Coincidentally, it was the same leg that you had accidentally spilled oatmeal on Chara when you first met them on that fateful day.

Your mouth set into a grim line before you unzipped your backpack.

Nope. You didn't bring band-aids this time. Crap. But thankfully, you brought a bottle of water though.

You took the bottle out and place it on the ground beside you, before looking at your shirt sadly.

‘Well, this shirt is kind of getting old anyway,’ you sighed before ripping a the end part of your shirt.

Chara flinched back in surprise. They knit their eyebrows in confusion, “What? What are you doing-”

“-Hold still,” you interrupted, quickly opening the water bottle and pouring its contents onto Charas injured knee.

They hissed in pain, but before they could do yell or do anything else to you, you wrapped a part of your ripped shit around their now cleansed knee.

You then looked at their sweater, realizing that several areas had been ripped, judging by some of ripped pieces of the cloth from the mountain you climbed.

You shed your jacket off of you and placed the garment around their shoulders.

It was pretty chilly right now since the wind was really picking up, and judging by the looks of their thin green sweater, it wouldn't help shield them from the cold at all.

They looked at you with a blank expression from your actions.

It was silent for a moment and you gave them a small smile, hoping to lighten the mood.

“I don't get it,” they said out loud. “Why… Why are you doing this to me?”

You looked at them for a moment, pausing. “Because I want to, not because I was told to,” you tried to explain.

They continued to look at you in confusion, but this time it no longer held a look of fear.

They looked down at their bandaged knee. “You should've let me go up there,” they quietly whispered.

You shook your head. “No, I won't let you get hurt.”

“I don't get it. I don't understand.. Why? Why do you care so much?” They whispered. “Why are you going through so much trouble to find me- to even help me after all I've done to you? I…”

They frowned, “I just don't understand, I deserve to die.”

You shook your head frantically. “No. Nobody deserves to die, Chara. Especially that way.”

Their face contorted into sudden malice. “I can think of a few people that deserve to,” they bitterly muttered to themselves.

Their face then slowly faded into an expressionless one, but judging from the way their eyes looked at you, they still seemed a bit afraid.

“Are you… Are you taking me back there?” they asked quietly, afraid of the knowing answer.

“Well, yes Chara. I have to, you were filed by Sister Ann as missing today,” you carefully answered, hoping that they would understand.

They looked at the ground, casually acting as if what you said had just said hadn’t bothered them.

“...Is that so,” they said monotonously, their eyes still glued to the ground.

They looked… So helpless.

Just like the scared cat.

“Let's go home, Chara..”

You sighed, looking at them. “..To my place.”

Man, you really hoped this was the right decision you were making, because you already made too many reckless decisions and risks today.

Chara’s head immediately snapped up, looking directly at you.

“What?” They asked dumbfounded.

“Well, you don't want to go back there do you?” You asked, hands on your hips.

Their eyebrows furrowed, “Well no, of course not but-”

“Then let's go,” you said, placing your hand in front of them.

They quietly complied, slowly trying to get up as they suddenly lost their balance again.

You held them before they almost fell.

“Lean on my back,” you said as you crouched down, removing your backpack as you did so.

Chara opened their mouth, about to reply a snarky remark until they decided to shut their own mouth.

They hesitantly leaned towards your back, awkwardly placing their hands on your shoulder blades not knowing what to do.

You asked them if they could put on your backpack and they grudgingly complied, still not knowing what you were getting at.

You then picked them up from the back of their knees and they yelped as you started walking.

“What- What are you doing?” They yelped, scared.

You rose an eyebrow in amusement, they didn’t know what a piggyback was?

“I’m carrying you on my back since you hurt your leg-” Chara was about to protest but closed their mouth again, “This is also known as a piggyback ride,” you explained.

“A piggy-what?” Chara asked, deadpanned.

You chuckled. “A piggyback ride,” you repeated.

“Can you wrap your arms around my neck? You’re kind of slipping.”

They quietly wrapped their arms around your neck, and at first you were a little concerned, but when they made no action to tighten their hold, you didn't mind anymore.

You continued to walk through the forest as you let Chara ride your back, fireflies flew out of the wild grass from each step you took.

“Aren't they pretty?” You absentmindedly asked as your eyes followed the small specks of glowing light.

They didn't say anything.

Of course. Your kind gestures must’ve been too weird for them, seeing that they were never treated that way.

They repeated the same question that plagued their mind ever since you saved them, “Why?”

You turned your head to the side to try to see them. “Hm?”

“Why are you being so nice to me?” they asked.

You slowly halted your steps.

“Even if you think that nobody cares for you, you’re wrong. Because I really do care about you. Why do you think I ditched my bus to climb up all the way in this dangerous mountain? I wanted to find you.”

Chara’s eyes widened at your confession.

“And I know that you hurt me and others, but despite that I still don't want you getting hurt,” you stated.

“So please, please don't do that again, Chara. Please don't-”

You felt drips of tears fall on your neck.

“Chara-” you turned your head back to the side to see them, but they quickly buried their face on your shoulder, hiding from you as they shook.

“Oh..” You gently placed them down and turned to face them as they furiously tried to rub away their tears with the arms of your jacket that you placed onto them.

You didn't say anything but you wrapped your arms around the child, to comfort them.

They stiffened visibly, but slowly they wrapped their arms around you as well.

The two of you stood there in the forest for a few minutes embracing, as the fireflies danced around both of you.

“I’m sorry…” They suddenly sobbed as they bawled in tears, hugging you tightly..

You gave a shaky laugh, your eyes were beginning to water.

“Don’t be,” you said, shaking your head as you rubbed their back soothingly.

You closed your eyes as a tear fell.

“I’m just glad you're not hurt."

You continued to walk towards the end of the forest until you saw the familiar lamp post in the far away distance.

You wanted to run, but you didn't want to wake the sleeping Chara on your back, so you started to quietly speed walk towards the light source.

Suddenly, a man emerged from the woods and you almost screamed until you realized it was the same bus driver that you had rudely escaped from.

“Ah, crap-”

Instead of being angry with you, the bus driver sighed in relief.

“Ugh, lord. Kid! Thank god you're not dead!” The old man said. “I was trying to look for you, but I got lost in this damn forest.”

You awkwardly laughed. “Erm, yeah. Haha..”

He eyed your back, seeing a mop of brown hair on the side of your shoulders. “Huh. I guess you really weren't high. You actually found someone.”

You rolled your eyes but smiled nonetheless. “Told you so.”

The two of you climbed up the bus and you gently placed Chara on a seat next to yours.

You sat down and the engine of the bus began to roar.

“Where to now?” The bus driver asked as he leaned to the side of his seat.

He looked at you questioningly, “Do you know that kid? Do you want to bring them to the police station-”

“No,” you snapped, grasping their shoulders so they wouldn't fall.

You quickly apologized. “Sorry.”

“I mean, yes I do know them, so it's no need to report them to the police. They're um, my cousin,” you lied.

The bus driver seemed to buy it since they were too tired to question you. You didn't blame him, you were pretty tired too after this long day.

“Back to the same way?” He asked, yawning.

You nodded your head tiringly. “Yes, please.”

The old man gave a nod before driving off to the direction.

You closed your eyes for a moment, relaxing.

Peace and quiet. Well, except for the few bumps on the road, but you weren't complaining.

Unbeknownst to you, Chara had been quietly listening to your conversation the whole time.

They opened their eyes a bit, incase you or the bus driver noticed. They looked at your dozed face before slowly leaning their head on your shoulder, and they too closed their eyes.

They awoke the same way on your back, you had just stepped out of the bus and thanked the bus driver for going through so much trouble for you today.

The bus driver said it was no problem, he was just glad that you were safe. The two of you bid your final goodbyes away as he drove away.

You had arrived at one of the apartments your parents owned. Most of your stuff from your old house had been shipped there, your parents gave you a room for you to move into after you finished college.

You graciously thanked your parents in your head, because it would have been extremely inappropriate to bring Chara to your dorm room. Daisy’s loud mouth would surely get you in trouble and you’d probably get arrested for kidnapping.

You slid inside your apartment room before closing and locking your door.

You turned on the lights.

Chara groaned, rubbing their eyes. “Huh? Where am I?” they asked, tightening their hold on you.

You set your backpack that you had been carrying with your other hand on the couch.

“You’re in my apartment, you can stay here for now if you’d like,” you said as you led them to your room.

You gently placed them on your bed and stretched your back. Oh god, it sure ached.  “You can stay in my room if you want, I’ll go sleep in the couch.” You then turned away, before they grabbed your arm.

You turned to them, “Yeah?”

They looked at their knees quietly swinging their legs from the foot of your bed.

“You’re… You’re not going to send me back there tomorrow, are you…?” they shyly asked.

Honest to god, you were actually going to return them to the orphanage tomorrow, but the way Chara looked so scared, you decided against it.

It was your job to make them feel safe and have care provided for them anyway.

“No, of course not. Not until you want to.”

“Fuck no. Never,” they hissed bitterly.

They froze immediately realizing the way they were speaking and cleared their throat.

“I mean, okay.”

You smiled and walked out the door, leaving the door half closed. “Just wake me up if you need anything. Alright, Chara?”

Chara silently nodded.

As you were about to leave, Chara suddenly called your name.

“(Y/N)?” they shyly asked.

You popped your head out of the doorway, “Yeah?”

They looked at you silently.

“Thank you,” they quietly said.

You smiled. “No problem, it’s no big deal. Well, goodnight Chara.”

“Goodnight, (Y/N).”

You left the room smiling to yourself.

As your footsteps faded away and you plopped yourself on the couch, immediately dozing off as soon as you landed on it. Chara stared at you through the half opened door.

“But seriously (Y/N), it was actually a big deal. Thank you.” Chara whispered, giving your sleeping form a huge nasty smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Clicks tongue*
> 
> Well, I finished writing this at 12:59 am, that's a new record sort of.
> 
> So maybe Chara's not as innocent as they seem, or are they? Maybe I just wrote this to seem mysterious or add drama, but you never know lol. Anyway, what do you think? This chapter felt kind of meh-ish to write tbh. Idk, maybe its just me but college is seriously killing me and its already just the fourth week fUck. Like always, tell me what you think of the chapter, what you liked, etc. I love your reading comments, they motivate me to continue writing this. :') This also took me several hours to write, and I haven't even finished my english hw yet oml.
> 
> Ugh. I'm sick right now too. I was literally typing this shit while sipping (more like gulping) on tea while stuffing my runny nose with kleenex. Jk its normal toilet paper bc I'm pretty broke and lazy to buy "normal tissues". No shame to that, really. And yes, I'm currently typing this while there is tissues stuffed up my nostrils. You might get sick while reading this, sorry. I spread my germs all over these words. RIP Readers. Anyways, don't forget to leave a comment, hope ya'll have a good day/night!
> 
> (P.S. I know the Reader in the story pretended that Chara was their cousin in the story, but what would you do if Chara was your actual cousin?)


	8. Just a Kid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yayyyy I'm back with a new chapter. As mentioned before, I've been extremely busy with college. I'm majoring in art, and that field is pretty competitive, so I've been working on improving my art and building up my portfolio. As well as doing a bunch of work for my general ed classes which I hardly care about lol. Thanks for the patience and kind words as always. :)
> 
> [Please listen here for dramatic effect while reading.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ3wUPX_86k)
> 
> Warning: As stated previous times, this story is rated M due to strong depictions of language, violence, abuse and sexual themes. Viewer discretion is advised.

"You stupid, insolent, ungrateful child!" A young woman in her early twenty's roared.

The small child cowering before her shook with a mix of dreadful anxiety and fear.

Tears welled up their light red eye eyes. "I'm- I'm sorry mo-"

The woman slapped the child across the face, the impact causing them to hit the corner of the wall.

"Didn't I tell you not to look at me with those disgusting eyes? You demonic abomination. You should be ashamed for existing." At each word, the evil being stepped closer and closer.

Chara clenched their eyes shut, desperately leaning against the corner of the wall as if hoping the pressure would cause the wall to crumble and lead an opportunity for an escape.  
The monster smirked. "I guess that's what our play room is for. Right?"

Chara's eyes snapped open. "NO!" They yelled out.

The monster gave Chara a hard and cold look.

"Didn't you hear what I just told you?" She said as she stepped closer and closer towards them.

"Don't."

Step.

"Look."

Step.

"AT ME!"

The hand was raised, sharp dark blood nails gleaming from the lamp's light. 

They clenched their eyes shut, ready for the impact.

....

Chara's woke up at the gentle touch from a cold hand against their cheek.

They jolted away, realizing that the hand belonged to you.

Your eyes widened a bit in surprise. "Oh, Chara. You're awake. Sorry you had to woke up to my cold hands, they're always like that in the morning," you laughed sheepishly.

Chara immediately laid back down on your bed, turning away and covering their whole face and body with your blankets.

'Are my cold hands that bad?' You wondered to yourself as you placed your right hand against your cheek.

Yup pretty cold.

"Well, I made you pancakes, Chara. I usually make them for scratch, but I'm in a hurry for one of my classes right now. So instant pancake mix will have to do. See you in a bit!" 

You said as you hurriedly put on your boots.

You walked out of the room, onto the living room, packing your stuff for class.

At the sound of your backpack being zipped closed, Chara slowly emerged from the room. Their head shyly popping out of the doorway.

"Where are you going?" The quietly asked.

"To class- English class, actually." You said as you wrapped your scarf around yourself.

Chara nodded silently, crossing their arms as they shivered.

You noticed their movement, realizing you didn't put the heater on last night since you were so incredibly tired. You couldn't help but feel a bit guilty, seeing how Chara wore a thin green sweater that now had holes and was torn due to last night.

You walked past Chara, returning to your room.

Chara turned around and watched in curiosity as you rummaged through the closet.

You jolted out of the closet, and Chara flinched.

"Ah, here we are!" You smiled to yourself, as you held your old green sweater up in the air. 

You then placed the sweater against Chara's chest to see if the size would fit. Chara froze at the sudden proximity.

"Yeah, I guess it fits you," you told them as you examined the sweater against them.

"It's doesn't look exactly like yours, but I think it's okay. Right?"

Chara didn't respond but quietly accepted the sweater from your hands.

You smiled. "Well, be back soon kiddo."

You turned around and was about to walk to the front door when Chara grabbed the end of your scarf, pulling you backwards.

"Hey!" You exclaimed.

"Ah, sorry." They didn't look very sorry.

"...You didn't... You didn't tell them, right-"

"No," You said immediately.

"Of course not."

They nodded again.

You gave them a smile before turning around again and to step to the door only to be tugged on your scarf again.

{A/N: Okay, are you fucking kidding me I just finished typing this goddamn chapter and all of a sudden motherfucking quotev decides to delete the shit I just wrote right now.  
Holy fuck I am so angry you guys I am so AUASSSFAUGHHH------- Sigh. This is the last time I'm typing on this stupid format thing.)

You glared at them, half annoyed as they pretended not to notice.

"...Are you... Going to come back?" They stared at your boots on the carpet floor.

Even though you had already mentioned you returning back several times, you smiled. "Of course."

They nodded again once more.

You walked opened the door, but turned back towards Chara who immediately looked away as soon as they realized you had caught them staring.

"There's a box of old toys I used to play with when I was a kid that are in my closet. You can use any one of them if you want, Chara."

Chara flushed in embarrassment. "I'm not a kid!"

You rolled your eyes and laughed. "Yeah, whatever, kiddo." 

You closed the door behind you, and locked it. Turning the knob twice to see if you had locked the door properly. You nodded in satisfaction and placed your key in the inner pocket of your backpack.

You walked down the stairs as you headed out, dreading for the test you didn't have time to study for. You hoped it was at least multiple choice.

...

Chara crossed their arms, enjoying the soft feel of the green sweater you had given them.

“Ha. As if I’d listen to that old hag and go play with some stupid toys.”

Yet, here Chara was in front of your closet pulling out a box labeled “toys”.

“...I just want to see what she has. Probably something stupid like barbies,” Chara snorted, trying to reassure themselves as they realized their actions were the exact opposite of what they were saying.

The box opened and Chara’s eyes widened at the sight of numerous amounts of the colorful toys you had inside the box. There were certainly dumb barbies, but there were also many other toys like mini cars, action figures, stuffed animals, play dough, crayons, paint, colored pencils, coloring books, and an unused sketchbook.

Chara’s eyes brightened at the sight of the art supplies. They smiled to themselves, deciding that they were going to use those later. They had always liked painting and drawing. The only form of art supply they had ever owned was an old cheap paint set with three basic colors of red, yellow and blue. And although Chara had to pay a price to get it on their birthday, that paint set was the only thing they were able to use to get by. Especially when they lived with those monsters.

Chara’s teeth clenched as they began to remember how their only paint set was ruined by the very same people.

They shook their head, trying to forget the memory. They didn’t need another reminder of them, especially since Chara just had a dream about one of them.

Their tight grip on the cardboard box ripped from the pressure.

Realizing this, Chara tried to calm themselves down. Which was hard since they didn’t have their medication with them. Besides, it wouldn’t feel right if you came home only to find the place ruined thanks to their temper. You already did so much for them even though you didn’t really need to.

Annoyed at this new feeling of guilt, Chara looked around your apartment to find some tape.

They found some tape on a desk and brought it to your room, using it to tape the ripped part of the box.

...A cardboard box.

Chara glared at the area they fixed, their cheeks pink.

“This is stupid.”

Chara noticed some long white rabbit ears that were popped out from the mass of toys. They pulled the ears to reveal a black and white stuffed bunny with ruby bright red eyes.

“...”

Chara walked to the kitchen and sat on the table. They placed the stuffed animal in front of them as they unwrapped the saran wrap that was surrounded the plate of pancakes you made them.

As soon as Chara took a bite of the pancakes, their mouth was in heaven. The pancakes you made were sweeter than usual pancakes. Chara closely examined the pancakes, discovering that there were dark brown spots on the fluffy hot cakes. Those sweet little specks melted on their mouth! What were they?

Well, whatever they were, Chara tossed the curious thoughts away as they scarfed down the last of their pancakes.

They looked up, mouth still chewing in pleasure as they suddenly jolted up in surprise at the sight of the stuffed bunny in front of them. Their red eyes staring straight at Chara.

Red eyes stared back.

…

“Weird.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, I hated writing that flashback, and ugh... I'm going to have to bring some of them back in later chapters... But yeah, pretty short chaper- and well, at least I posted something. I wanted to try something different this time since it’s usually the Reader’s POV along with super angsty drama. The next chapters will be different as we move on in the story. This time we got to see bits of Chara’s horrific past as well them trying their best not to fall into their childish desires. *Wipes tears* Just let Chara be a normal and happy goddamn kid, dammit.
> 
> Anyways, what did you think of this chapter? Who were the “monsters”? Will the Reader pass her English test? (How are you guys doing in school btw?) What were some childhood toys you enjoyed playing with? Also, do you guys think Chara is going to play with those barbie dolls?
> 
> Till the next chapter,  
> whatthewhat (also known as mikonopico here)


	9. Besides the Disaster, Maybe Something Else Has Blossomed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the late chapter- I feel a bit guilty for not writing in a while. After my fall semester ended, I was going to write again, but Yuri on Ice took over my life. (Cough Yurio’s my favorite character even if he’s an asshole most of the time lol. In fact, his character reminded me a bit of Chara’s attitude tbh, but that’s for later ;)) But yeah, it’s a beautifully unique anime- a total fresh breath of air. I definitely recommend watching it! Anyways, on to the story.
> 
> [Please listen here for dramatic effect while reading :)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql_dEdMEjl4&index=112&list=PLlAi5mnWozUtKIBC_zHQ8d6hhjFB0_d-7&spfreload=10)

You walked out of your class wracked with anxiety.

Oh god, you really hoped you did well on that test. 

You walked the halls silently as more students began to flood past you, they too were just as worried about their score results like most college students. But who wouldn’t be? 

College was already pretty expensive in the first place and nobody in hell wanted to repeat a class since repeating a class equaled paying for the said class again. 

Your mind was scrambling, trying to repeat some of the questions you answered until suddenly hurried footsteps behind you immediately caught up to your side.

“(Y/N)!”

You turned your head at the sound of the familiar voice and smiled upon seeing the face of your colleague, Joe.

He gave you a happy smile, seeing that he finally caught your attention after calling your name several times without you realizing. 

“How do you think you did on the test?” he asked politely.

Joe Longton was an engineering major who shared the same English class with you. He always had a dazzling smile that blinded you and many others taken back by his beauty and kindness. He sort of reminded you of a golden retriever sometimes since he was always so optimistic most of the time. A pure ball of sunshine. 

He was always good at fixing things, he even managed to fix your DSi during that one time when you raged because you kept getting beaten by this one boss level several times.  
He also finished that level with just one try.

That bastard.

Besides being great at almost everything, one flaw that Joe had was his clumsiness. On several occasions, Joe was known to accidentally spill juice on you. You grimaced in distaste remembering when he spilled orange juice all over your white sweater. That poor sweater. You remembered ignoring his apologies that day as he followed you to the washing machine room, begging for forgiveness. So you did because you felt a bit bad as he looked away like a kicked puppy when you refused to accept his offer to pay for the machine.   
Another Joe moment you remembered was that after fixing your Dsi, you discovered he broke it shortly afterward when he moved on to the next boss level which was even harder.

He then got you another one that he managed to... Break again. Now that you think about it, despite being a ball of sunshine, Joe was the complete opposite when it came to playing video games. 

That reminded you, next time you were at the orphanage, you needed to call for Joe to help fix the heater there. 

Well, if you were there at least. With the recent events with Chara, you weren’t sure what to do when you would arrive at the orphanage. Sister Ann wanted to know what had happened with you, Betty, and Chara on that fateful day, but... You weren’t sure if you could tell Sister Ann, especially when you had Chara staying in your apartment. 

Oh man, you weren’t sure if you could trust Sister Ann anymore, but things might get ugly if you don’t tell anyone of Chara’s whereabouts. 

Oh geez, what to do, what to do…

“Uh, (Y/N)? (Y/N)? Helloooo?”

You blinked a few times before realizing that you had just spaced out again.

You smiled apologetically at Joe, “Sorry Joe, I spaced out for a second. But I have no idea how I did on the test.”

Joe laughed, “You and me both then,” he agreed.

You smiled as light seemed to radiate around him as he laughed, making him look like the sunshine angel boy he was. He absentmindedly smiled as the two of you walked before narrowing his eyes at a particularly annoying green poster labeled, ‘Join the Sociology Club, today!’

You followed Joe’s eyes and also looked at it in disgust.

You remembered that club conning you and Joe into joining them with a flyer labeled “free pizza party,” only to find out that it was a lie. They had no damn pizza unless you signed up in the following positions of either the club President, vice president, treasurer and the representer that had to attend ALL meetings with other clubs.

You grimaced, staring back at the badly edited green poster.

“Fuck that Club.”

Chara was currently in your apartment residence, they were still rummaging through your toy box that you let them use to play with your old childhood toys. All toys they had already played with or got bored with was in a separate pile next to them. There, they tossed away some of the transformer action figures you had. The craftsmanship and detail on those action figures were amazing, but then again Chara was young and didn’t really pay much attention to things like that anyway. The fun part with transformers was that you could shoot tiny plastic toy bullets from them, but the thing that ruined the fun was that once they detached, you would have to reattach them again. Chara placed the action figure a bit closer to them from the ‘done’ pile. They did sort of like it. Maybe they could hit you with it, Chara thought mischievously. 

The way the action figure was brought closer to Chara, contrasted from the first toy Chara had placed on the pile which was the red eyed stuffed bunny plushie.

Chara noticed its eyes were staring at them again, so Chara pushed the rabbit deeper into the pile of toys until its form was completely hidden.

“God, you’re creepy,” Chara muttered as they continued to shuffle through the box, then they remembered the paint set you had.

Chara immediately perked up having their hands on the set, giving a small smile. They really loved art.

They were about to grab your sketchbook, wanting to draw and paint on it since they never had one before, but from the looks of the sketchbook and the way it was designed, it looked pretty expensive. It was a special sketchbook judging by the way it looked. 

Chara removed their hands from the sketchbook. Their head slowly swarming with insecure thoughts and memories. 

...

The Monster shook her head in distaste, “Don’t you fucking touch that food, you devil. It was expensive,” the woman snapped as she slapped Chara’s hands away.

...  
Chara closed their mouth and looked away, rubbing their hands from the sting.

The woman roughly tossed a piece of sliced bread in front of Chara.

“Besides, you don’t deserve it. You’ll only taint it with you and your revolting eyes.

“I don’t... Deserve this. I’ll only taint it,” Chara repeated quietly.

They angrily smacked away the piled toys and screamed. They remembered again.

They then began to raise their fists in the air and continuously smack their fists onto your toys, particularly the action figures.

They fell apart of course, just like Chara. But they could easily be reattached, unlike Chara.

After what seemed like several minutes, they eventually began to slowly calm down from their outburst.

Their hands were still curled up into fists, except they were now bleeding.

Tears began to well up from their eyes again.

Not again.

They picked up the white rabbit they had previously pushed away and was now hugging it tightly to themselves, as they sobbed. 

Red was starting to stain its white fur.

After picking up some donuts at a local coffee shop, Joe insisted on walking you to your place, but you politely declines. No way in hell were you going to let him discover Chara there. Who knows what might happen.

You reached the steps to your door and brought out your keys, sliding them into your door handle as you balanced having your bag of donuts held on by your left arm. As you opened the door, you wondered if Chara would like them, after all they were chocolate filled and covered. 

You sneakily walked into your apartment, bag in your hand since you wanted to surprise Chara.

“Hey Chara,” you called out as you began to enter your room, “I got you do-...nuts…”

Your room was a mess, well the floor for the most part at least. Your toys were scattered everywhere.

Oh man, where were they?

You looked to your right and saw that your closet door was slightly open.

You opened the closet door slowly to reveal Chara, their knees up to their chest as they clumsily tried to fix your transformers action figure that was broken into bits.

You wondered why your Optimus Prime figure was smeared with red paint until you realized that it wasn’t paint- it was blood.

Your eyes followed the blood, landing on Chara’s hands.

Immediately you knelt down in front of Chara, “Oh my god, Chara? What the hell happened?” you asked as you cautiously tried to grab one of their hands.

Chara let you, not making any more movements or pathetic attempts at fixing your broken action figure.

“...I’m sorry. I broke it,” they quietly sad.

You checked their hands and fingers for serious injuries but thankfully there weren’t any. Just minor cuts from the impacted pressure on their skin. 

“Well, that’s okay. Accidents happen all the time, at least you didn’t break something super expensive like Joe did. Which he did many, many times,” you said lightly chuckling in an attempt to lighten the mood.

It wasn’t working since Chara continued to look away from you in silence. Oh yeah, they didn't know who Joe was.

You frowned, it seemed they didn’t want to talk about what happened, so you decided to ask them questions later instead.

“Come on, let’s get your wounds cleaned up.”

You gently wiped the blood from their hands with disinfectant, afterward, you wrapped their hands with some bandages. Thank god you had a spare first aid kit in your apartment. 

You set down the materials on the table, Chara was sitting down on the chair in front of you, quietly looking at their lap in silence. It was as if they were waiting for the worst.  
Instead, you turned around and rummaged through your bag, “Well, since you were such a good patient, here’s your reward.”

You plopped the bag of donuts on top of the table, one of them rolling out of the bag in front of Chara.

“Whoops,” you said, smiling sheepishly.

Chara stared at the donut, their brows furrowing in confusion.

“What?” they said.

“Ah, don’t worry I’ll eat that donut if you don’t want it.” You reached forward to grab the fallen donut only to have your wrist suddenly gripped by Chara.

“Oh, okay then you can have it then,” you said.

You tried to slide your hand out of their grip only to have it be held on tighter.

“No,” they said.

“I still don’t get it, I broke your toys.”

You shrugged, “I told you it was fine, accidents happen-”

“NO!” they yelled, the pressure on your wrist hurt.

Your eyes widened and you frowned.

Noticing this, Chara immediately halted their actions.

“I’m sorry,” they apologized again.

They let go of your wrist, their bandaged hands on their downcast face.

“I just.. I don’t get it, why are you not angry with me?”

“Why are you always so nice to me?”

“Why did you reward me for something I don’t deserve? I don’t deserve this at all.”

After having asked their many questions, they finally looked at you.

“Chara,” you began, “we already went over these questions before, besides you already know the answers to them.”

“You are not useless, and those toys don’t mean too much to me anymore. You do.” You looked at them with such sincerity at that moment, Chara wasn’t sure how to respond or act. So they did the only thing they could think of at that moment.

“Okay…” they mumbled softly, looking away from your gaze.

You smiled at their cuteness, glad that the atmosphere wasn’t so heavy anymore. At that moment you decided to tease them.

“You’re not going to cry are you?” You joked, referencing how almost every incident when you and Chara talked to each other seriously, it always ended up with Chara in tears.

Their cheeks pinked in embarrassment, understanding what you meant. 

“N-no! Shut up!”

You chuckled, ruffling their hair. "I'm just joking, its okay to cry."

“Hey!” they yelled.

You grabbed the donut near them and moved it in front of them. 

“Here,” you said.

Chara unknowingly bit on the donut that was still being held on by your hand.

You smiled in amusement. 

Chara immediately grabbed the donut from your hand and looked away, deciding not to speak with you anymore.

They smiled to themselves as they continued to eat the delicious pastry. It was so good, it was filled and covered with the same familiar taste of the brown specks you put on the pancakes for breakfast.

“Like it?” you asked.

“It’s chocolate flavor-”

“YES,” Chara immediately said as they finished the treat, immediately rummaging through the donut bag for more. 

You rolled your eyes and laughed before ruffling their hair again as they ate.

"So cute,” you said absentmindedly, before getting up and walking into the living room and sitting on the couch.

Chara blushed at your compliment, their eyes followed your movements as you sat down and began to untie the laces on your boots. You set the footwear aside before opening your English textbook and laid down as you searched through the pages. Now where was that one passage that was on number 16 from the test…

Chara finally finished all the donuts. At that moment, they realized they didn’t mind staring at you one bit. 

‘Huh. Weird,’ they thought.

You noticed Chara’s gaze on you and you moved your head to the side from your book, looking at them.

“Need anything?” you asked.

Chara immediately looked away. Their cheeks felt warm again. Still weird.

They got up and headed to your room, “No.”

You heard the clinking of your toys and got up.

Chara was putting away the toys quietly, you decided to help them out.

“No don’t,” they interrupted, “It’s my mess I’ll do it. You already helped me out so much anyways.”

“Yeah, but-”

Chara looked at you sternly, which caught you by surprise because now they seemed to act like the adult in this room. 

“No buts, (Y/N). Besides, don’t you have another test tomorrow?”

You rose an eyebrow, “How do you even know I have a test tomorrow?”

Without looking, Chara pointed their thumb on the calendar near your bed.

“Oh fuck,” you cursed running to the living room and grabbing your math textbook. You hated math.

Chara smiled to themselves, as they put away the toys. 

“Dumbass.”

Hours later of restless studying, you fell asleep on the couch. 

Chara quietly walked to your sleeping form before deciding to lay down on the carpet floor. Coloring on your coloring book. 

You woke up at the sound of them flipping the page.

“Hm?”

“(Y/N), don’t you need to go to that place,” Chara asked emotionlessly. 

They were coloring a flower in the brightest shades of yellow and orange.

You looked up at the clock on the wall. It was 6 pm, holy crap you missed your volunteer work at the orphanage.

Crap.

Oh well, you were sure Sister Ann would forgive you anyway. I mean, she did understand your schedule, so she didn’t really mind if you came late or if something came up.

...But would she still understand you if she knew what was going on right now?

Maybe.

...Maybe not.

“Well, that’s okay. I have reasons not to go anyway. Besides, I don’t mind spending my day with you,” you said.

“Whatever,” Chara mumbled.

You noticed their emotionless tone. They were always like this whenever there were mentions of the orphanage.

As you stared at Chara’s unhappy face focused on coloring the image, you stared at their bandaged hands, remembering them to be bloody earlier.

Tomorrow, you would get answers.

You shook your head and got off the couch kneeling down next to them. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

More silence.

You decided it was best to get up give Chara space, but suddenly you were quickly engulfed into a hug.

Arms tightly wrapped around your waist and you wrapped yours in return.

They shyly looked up and averted their gaze to you, “..You promise?”

Your heart melted at that moment. 

You gave a soft smile, it was strange how vulnerable the once terrifying orphan looked. You nodded your head and stook out your pinky towards them.

Chara blinked in confusion, but you smiled as you gently hooked your pinky onto their own.

“I will, I swear.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Stares at the chapter title and stares at you back*
> 
> ...And it begins.
> 
> Dun, dun, dun!
> 
> Oh yeah, while rereading over this, I just realized that I was basically ranting about my freshman year experience on the club part with Joe LMAO- Some of you may have been reading that going "um ok," lolol. But seriously man, that was bullshit I hated that club. I'm not going to get political or anything, but after the US Election, the same teacher suddenly went on a rant about millennials and was blaming us for everything. Like, okay lady. 
> 
> Anyway! I hope you all had a nice holiday so far, how was Christmas? I kind of suffered in my holiday party, I had cousins I'm not really close to, so it was pretty damn awkward. The fun thing though was playing white elephant with everyone. I got a cute fluffy pink bathrobe with a bunny hood as my prize which I'm currently wearing right now. I can be swaggy and kawaii af at the same time yo. Have you guys ever played white elephant? That game is super fun, but warning though it can create war and chaos among people. Especially with friends and family lmao.
> 
> But yeah, hope you guys liked this chapter. I was thinking of writing a Christmas Special for a chapter, but well, too late now :') What did you think of the sunshine boy named Joe so far? What role do you think might he play in this story? What the heck is the Reader going to do? How would you deal with this going on? Tell me what you guys thought of everything, and happy holidays!
> 
> *Does the JJ style pose and fails*


	10. No, Chara That's Not Stupid Math is

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Author complains and bashes math while typing a somewhat fluffy chapter in anger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry dudes, can I just rant for a sec? Feel free to skip this Author’s note but omfg guys I am so pissed right now. I literally just finished class just to get here and finish typing this chapter because I’ve been holding it off way too long ever since winter semester for college started and it's killing me. I just have one class which is math because there’s like a limit for classes and winter semester is only like 5 weeks.
> 
> Anyways, god. I. Hate. My professor so damn much. I know I might sound like a whiny baby, but I am pretty sure she doesn’t like me at all. Usually I roll my eyes when I hear people saying “my teacher hates me” but wow I’m experiencing that now. Whenever I turn in my work, she nitpicks every detail so I have to rewrite everything all over again. And when I look at other people’s work she gives them a free pass? Like she doesn’t even check their work and corrects it for them?? Whatthefuckingfuckfuck. Do I remind her of someone that wronged her in the past or something omfg? What is this Harry and Snape shit.
> 
> Thankfully, this week is my last in that hell. If you actually read my rant, thank you you’re a real homie and I am so sorry you had to read that. I am just. So. Pissed. So pissed that I’m listening to Hello Bitches by CL. God, I just.. Augh I’m scared guys, math hasn’t always been my best subject and I don’t want to fail the next tests coming up. Sigh. Any of you guys ever have an experience with a shitty teacher? Someone make me feel better pls lol.
> 
> [Please listen here for dramatic effect while reading :)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDgdoPSkPnM&index=110&list=PLlAi5mnWozUtKIBC_zHQ8d6hhjFB0_d-7)

Your phone’s alarm rang and immediately your eyes opened. Oh, snap today was your math test! You had an extra two hours to get ready before class started. 

You were about to get up when suddenly you felt a weight on your lap. You looked down to see Chara sitting on the floor, the back of their head resting on the edge of your lap as they leaned against the couch.

You took note of the coloring book on their lap, it seemed that they fell asleep while coloring last night. One of their hands still gripped with a yellow crayon. 

You peered closely at the coloring book, more flowers were drawn in a mix ray of orange and yellow hues.

You smiled, happy that Chara seemed to love drawing and coloring. You hoped that they would put your unused art supplies to good use.

You slowly got up in an attempt to not wake Chara but unfortunately, the plan backfired because Chara’s immediately woke up.

Chara turned their head towards you, giving you a glare. 

Usually that glare would intimidate others, but in this case, you broke out in laughter at the sight of Chara’s appearance. Their hair was a mess, brown locks spread all over their face.

In surprise at your laughing expense, Chara rose their eyebrows before returning back to their usual glare.

“What’s so funny, (Y/N)?” they muttered.

You only grinned as your giggles died down, taking your phone and switching the camera’s settings to the front view. You held the phone in front of Chara and only grinned even harder as Chara slapped the offending phone and its camera away. Their cheeks pink in embarrassment.

“Tch. So stupid.” Chara muttered as they unconsciously tried to fix their hair.

You grinned ear to ear as you finished washing your face in the bathroom after getting ready.

You walked out the doorway and put your boots on.

“Well, I’m off to school, Chara!” You announced out loud as you gathered your things.

Chara looked up at you from the table, they were coloring again.

“Okay,” they said returning to their drawing.

Before leaving you walked to the table, hands on the sides of your face as you leaned on the table near Chara.

“You must really like doodling flowers, huh?”

Apparently, Chara didn’t even notice your presence near them because they jumped at your words.

They glared at you once again before returning back to the coloring book, “Well yeah. I really like flowers…” they muttered quietly.

“Is that one of the things you only draw?” you asked in curiosity.

Chara rolled their eyes, “Hah! Of course, I can draw other things.”

“Really?” you asked.

Chara puffed their chest in pride, “Yeah, everything!” 

You nodded your head in amusement, “Wow, I wish I could draw anything.”

Chara grinned at you smugly, “Oh, that’s a real shame.”

It really didn’t sound like they felt bad for you at all.

You rolled your eyes and smiled nonetheless, and ruffled their hair before getting up.

“Don’t get too cocky, kid.” 

Chara stuck their tongue in response.

“Anyway, have fun using my art supplies,” you waved off.

Chara abruptly got up from their chair, “Wait (Y/N)-”

You turned facing them, “Yeah?”

Chara looked down at their feet for a moment and swayed the balls of their feet back and forth in a nervous manner. “Do you mean it?”

“I can.. I can have your art stuff?”

You smiled “Of course, Chara. You’re a way better artist than I was at your age, anyway.” 

“And besides, my dream job isn’t to become an artist. It’s to take care of kids like you,” you said.

Like always, Chara didn’t know how to respond to you whenever you said nice things like that.

“O-oh,” their cheeks felt warm.

You opened the door and looked back at them, giving them a sweet smile. 

“See ya.”

And just like that, the warmth in their cheeks flooded. Sometimes, your kindness really freaked them out since they weren’t used to it. 

They walked back to your room, your words repeating in their head. 

You were so nice… Maybe… Maybe they could do something for you? In return for your kindness?

Chara stopped for a moment. ‘Wait what the hell, why should I do something for her?’ they thought angrily, embarrassed at their actions.

They looked down at your unused art supplies, surprised to see a sticky note with your handwriting that said: “For Chara :)”

Immediately, Chara began to gather some of your art supplies and pieces of paper before setting it back on the table.

Chara stared at the white paper, their face as red as a tomato.

“God, this is so stupid…” Chara grumbled to themselves as they began to draw you.

Unknowingly, a small smile grew on their face as locks of hair fell from their ears.

You ran out of the math building at your school. 

Ugh, finally math was over! You really hoped you did well on that test.

You calmly walked to the bus stop and was surprised to see Joe waiting there.

“Hey, Joe. Do you take this bus too?” you asked as you walked to Joe’s side.

Joe turned and smiled in surprise seeing the sight of you. 

“Ah, (Y/N)! Hey! This is the first time I’m taking this bus actually. I’m visiting my mom, today.”

You nodded remembering Joe telling you that his mom had been ill over the past few weeks.

“I see, I hope you’re mom’s doing okay..” you said sincerely.

Joe smiled, “Thanks (Y/N). I hope so too…” he said trailing off.

Noticing Joe’s usual sunshine smile fading, you decided to change the subject.

“Man, Ms. Lee’s class is killing me.” 

Joe rose an eyebrow in amusement, “Math?”

“Yeah, Daisy didn’t even let me borrow her calculator at the last few minutes of class,” you pouted.

Joe laughed, remembering your noisy roommate.

“I hate math so much. God, Joe how can you stand taking so many math classes every year!” you asked in exasperation.

Joe grinned, “It’s a good thing I want to be an engineer.”

“The job of math hell,” you muttered to yourself.

Joe chuckled and shook his head. 

“Well, it looks like the bus is coming this way,” he said pointing his head towards the direction of the upcoming bus.

“You can complain more to me about it in there,” he joked bowing before you.

You laughed as Joe let you in the bus before him like the gentleman he was.

As the two of you sat down, Joe turned to you with his eyebrows raised in curiosity.

“So are you headed home, (Y/N)?”

You shook your head, “Nope. I’m headed to Primrose Orphanage. A place I work at.”

Joe smiled in admiration, you always had a caring nature towards others. “That’s great, (Y/N). You want to be a caretaker?”

You nodded, “Yep, and today I am going to get answers.”

Thoughts of Sister Ann and Betty flooded in your head. You were definitely going to get answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Your patience is greatly appreciated. 
> 
> So how is 2017 treating you guys? Because right now I want to dieeee.
> 
> I also have a math test tomorrow, pray for me ya'll.


End file.
